Chester, Illinois Chester Chester building (Chester, Illinois) 01.jpg A building in Chester Location of Chester inside Illinois Location of Chester inside Illinois Wikimedia Commons: Chester, Illinois Chester is a town/city located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley in Randolph County, Illinois, United States.
1.4 Chester Pool Samuel Smith assembled the first home in Chester, established a ferry system, and began the assembly of a foundry in 1829.
It was his wife Jane Smith, a native of Chester, England, who gave Chester its name as a tribute to her home town. The first company in Chester was a general store that opened in 1830 along with a castor petroleum press established by R.
The first wedding in the town of Chester was held on February 4, 1834.
The foundry still exists in Chester but it is now directed by Ardent Mills.
Nathan Cole also brought the first electric generator to Chester and used the surplus of power from the foundry to operate street lights.
Chester Pool Construction began for the Chester Pool in 1939 as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) enhance works program to problematic employment amid the Great Depression.
Chester is the "Home of Popeye," where a 6-foot (1.8 m), 900-pound (410 kg) bronze statue of Popeye the Sailor Man stands in the Elzie C.
The park is positioned next to the Chester Bridge.
Segar's characters were created from experiences with citizens of Chester.
Chester's big event is its annual Popeye Picnic and parade, held the weekend after Labor Day.
New statues honoring the other Thimble Theater characters are added each year. This character trail is spread throughout Chester and to date includes: Popeye's Picnic is an event held in Chester the Friday, Saturday and Sunday following Labor Day in the month of September.
The Chester region includes a number of state parks and historic sites.
Five miles northeast of Chester is the Randolph County State Recreation Area, which has a 65-acre (260,000 m2) lake for fishing as well as hiking and equestrian trails.
South of Chester is the Turkey Bluffs State Fish and Wildlife Area, which has many scenic overlooks and trails to spot its namesake turkeys.
Part of the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge, a division of the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge Complex, is positioned along the Mississippi River at Chester.
Chester's Evergreen Cemetery is the burial site of the first governor of Illinois, Shadrach Bond, and U.S.
Additionally, Cole Memorial Park is positioned inside the town/city limits of Chester.
Chester is connected to Perry County, Missouri via a river bridge known as the Chester Bridge.
The Chester Bridge was first constructed on August 23, 1942, as a toll bridge.
Chester now has Channel 10 through Cable TV.
It broadcasts affairs, post announcements and upcoming improve affairs, relays emergency notices and much more to the people of Chester.
Students from the Chester Grade School contribute daily broadcasts from the school.
Chester's journal is the Randolph County Herald Tribune , and the small-town airways broadcast is KSGM.
On April 11, 1842, Charles Dickens, the author of A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, visited Chester with his wife. Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a pilot on the Mississippi River between 1857 and the Civil War, supposedly on many of his trips stayed at Chester's Cliff House, a fine river hostelry.
Twain also mentioned the blue windows of Chester's Cohen Home, visible from the Mississippi, in his book Life on the Mississippi. The Chester postal service contains a federally commissioned mural, Loading the Packet, painted by Fay E.
Chester was the recording locale of scenes from the 1967 movie In the Heat of the Night, the 1993 movie The Fugitive. In the January 1978 copy of Official UFO Pulp Fiction Magazine, editor Myron Fass claimed that UFOs had attacked and entirely finished (or in his words 'Destructed') the town of Chester, Illinois, on the evening of August 2, 1977.
After mainstream Press reporters interviewed Chester residents, who obviously suffered no UFO attack, Fass claimed the aliens had instantly rebuilt the town and erased most residents' memories of the attack. Chester is positioned at 37 54 50 N 89 49 23 W (37.913947, -89.823140). According to the 2010 census, Chester has a total region of 5.826 square miles (15.09 km2), of which 5.81 square miles (15.05 km2) (or 99.73%) is territory and 0.016 square miles (0.04 km2) (or 0.27%) is water. The Illinois Department of Corrections Menard Correctional Center is positioned in Chester. Prior to the January 11, 2003 commutation of death row sentences, male death row inmates were homed in Menard, Tamms, and Pontiac correctional centers.
Large employers include the private label food business Gilster-Mary Lee, Corp., the maximum security Menard Correctional Center, and the maximum security forensics mental community center, Chester Mental Health Center.
Chester Community Unit School District No.
139 consists of two schools, Chester High School and Chester Grade School.
Mary's School are Chester's parochial schools.
There are eleven churches positioned in Chester.
These churches consist of the New Life First Pentecostal Church, First Baptist Church, First Christian Church of Chester, Family Worship Center Assembly of God, First Presbyterian Church, First Apostolic Pentecostal Church, First United Methodist Church, Grace Church Ministries, Peace Lutheran Church ELCA, St.
"Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Chester city, Illinois".
Gordon,Eileen.A History Of Chester, Illinois 1829-1979.Taylor Publishing Company, 1979.
Gordon, Eileen."A History Of Chester, Illinois 1829-1979." City of Chester website.
"Sea Hag Statue Unveiled During Popeye Picnic" Randolph County Herald Tribune [Chester, Il] 15 September 2010 A1.
City of Chester website.
"A Bit of a Chester History Lesson".
City of Chester.
"Titles with locations including Chester, Illinois, USA".
"Chester city, Illinois." City of Chester website.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chester, Illinois.
City of Chester official website 618 Football - Chester Yellow Jackets Municipalities and communities of Randolph County, Illinois, United States
Categories:
Cities in Illinois - County seats in Illinois - Cities in Randolph County, Illinois - Illinois populated places on the Mississippi River - Populated places established in 1829 - 1829 establishments in Illinois
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