Marion, Illinois
City of Marion Marion is positioned in Illinois Marion - Marion Marion is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The populace was 17,193 at the 2010 census.
Today Marion serves as the biggest retail trade center in Southern Illinois with its central locale along Interstate 57 and Illinois Route 13 (colloquially known as Southern Illinois' "Main Street").
It is home to the Illinois Star Centre mall and the Southern Illinois Miners baseball team, and is in the process of being chose for Illinois' first STAR Bonds District for the proposed Boulder Creek at The Hill development. The town/city is part of the Marion-Herrin Micropolitan Area and is a part of the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Travel Destination with 123,272 residents, the sixth most crowded Combined statistical region in Illinois.
Following the creation of Williamson County out of the south half of Franklin County by the Illinois General Assembly, three commissioners appointed by the lawmakers met at Bainbridge, Illinois, on August 19, 1839, for the purpose of locating a new governmental center of county as close to the center of the county as possible.
For a name, they chose Marion to honor American Revolutionary War hero General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion.
The Williamson County Court organized in Marion on October 7, 1839, at the Benson log cabin.
The federal government established a postal service at Marion on January 30, 1840, and the council incorporated the improve as a town/city on February 24, 1841. Main article: Marion, Illinois tornado outbreak On May 29, 1982, one of the larger tornadoes in Illinois history, an F-4, hit the town/city of Marion, Illinois and Williamson County.
According to the 2010 census, Marion has a total region of 16.217 square miles (42.00 km2), of which 15.99 square miles (41.41 km2) (or 98.6%) is territory and 0.227 square miles (0.59 km2) (or 1.4%) is water. The recent Great Recession impacted Marion in lower revenue tax revenues for the town/city as well as the loss of a Circuit City distribution center, and a proposed second distribution center for another primary big box retailer that had never formally been named.
So far in 2011 builders have started four new homes, three triplex apartements, a $500,000 expansion at Timberline Fisheries, $600,000 for the new Speakeasy Liquors, a $560,000 new office and mechanical building for Clearwave Communications and the $4.7 million Holiday Inn Express. In addition, a new 4-story, 65-unit Comfort Inn broke ground in September. Marion's location, at the crossroads of Illinois Route 13 and Interstate 57 make it a prime candidate for future growth.
Butler Industrial park, home of the 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m2) Circuit City Warehouse now looking for a new tenant, as well as Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Data Center, Frito Lay Distribution Center and Illinois Tool Works.
Other industrialized areas available for evolution are the Airport Industrial Park between the Williamson County Regional Airport and Illinois Route 148 immediately northwest of the city, and the undeveloped county-owned Williamson County Industrial Park six miles (10 km) east of the town/city one mile north of Illinois Route 13. Federal installations in the town/city include the Marion Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Main Street, the Richard G.
Army Reserve Center on Illinois Route 13, and the United States Penitentiary, Marion positioned southwest of the city.
When that happens the Marion Police Department is slated to move out of the basement at City Hall to the more centrally-located building.
The newest primary attraction is Rent One Park, which opened in May 2007, home to the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners. Marion is also the home of the 1st and only all female roller derby league in Southern Illinois, the Southern Illinois Roller Girls. of Justice / Bureau of Prisons employs 342 union workers at United States Penitentiary, Marion southwest of the city.
Southern Illinois Power Coop just south of Marion employing 120 at its Lake of Egypt power plant.
Downtown Marion is home to the Little Egypt Arts Gallery directed by the Little Egypt Arts Association as well as the Williamson County Historical Society exhibition and the Marion Carnegie Library.
The primary arts and culture institution though is the Marion Cultural and Civic Center.
In 2004, the Marion Civic Center was awarded the Frank Lloyd Wright Award - Special Recognition from the American Institute of Architects, Illinois Chapter, at the organization's annual ceremony.The 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) facility, designed by White and Borgognoni Architects, was instead of in June 2004.
After a 1997 fire finished the city's former civic center, the new facility was crafted using parts of the old Orpheum Theater building.
The City of Marion purchased the building in 1973 with the intent of constructing a parking lot.
Tourism promotion and marketing in Marion is conducted at the county level with a county bed tax of five percent.
Forty percent of that amount goes to the Williamson County Tourism Bureau and the remaining 60 percent to the Williamson County Events Commission for debt service on the bonds used to build the Williamson County Pavilion, a multi-use meeting and meeting hall immediately north of the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion.
Over the last decade Marion lodging operators generated on average 97.4 percent of the lodging revenue for the county.
Since 2000, one hotel has closed - the initial Holiday Inn closed in January 2004 having last directed as the Executive Inn - and two new hotels opened, Fairfield Inn in August 2004, and Country Inn & Suites in December 2008.
In addition, there are two additional motels and three small specialty lodging facilities outside the town/city limits but inside the Marion zip code. In the fall of 2010, a new bed and breakfast Jasones opened in the historic Queen Anne-style Aikman mansion at the corner of Main and Russell Streets. Prior to the current recession, a new Holiday Inn Express had been prepared and semi-announced for The Hill, as stated to the site map on the developer's website.
Site work began early in 2011 and the developer took out a building permit with the town/city on April 11, 2011. A second new hotel, this one a new 65-unit Comfort Inn, broke ground in September 2011.
Besides the announced Millennium Development, other tourism projects in the works include a new visitors center presently in the planning stages that would be positioned next to the Marion Chamber of Commerce near the Main Street (Exit 53) interchange just off of Interstate 57. Marion's first motel was the World War II era Motel Marion on the edge of the town/city limits on what was then Illinois Route 13, now Old Route 13 or West Main Street.
Later it was joined by the Courts Motel on South Court Street (since torn down for an auto parts store), and the Uptown Motel just off the enhance square (also torn down and now a parking lot and part of the new Marion Civic and Cultural Center).
For a while after World War II, Marion's primary hotel was the Hotel State in the former five-story Marion State & Savings Bank building on the west side of the square.
Marion's undivided history as a tourism center began with the evolution of Interstate 57 in the 1960s and the creation of three hotels and one motel in short order.
They were the Egyptian Sands Motor Lodge (later a Travelodge and finally the Heritage Motel before finally closing) positioned next to the city's first strip shopping center Westmore Plaza (now the Marion Centre), the Ramada Inn (now the Days Inn), and the Holiday Inn (later a Travelodge and the Executive Inn before finally closing).
The Regal 8 (now the Motel 6), Best Inns (now America's Best Inn) and Super 8 were the next three motels to locate in the town/city in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Around the same time as the announcement of the Illinois Centre Mall and the city's first use of tax increment financing districts, Drury Inn assembled a large undivided facility on the north side of Route 13.
Camping facilities in the town/city include the Motel Marion and the new Marion Campground & RV Park, both positioned off of Exit 53 on the east side of the interstate. Major attractions that fill Marion hotels include Southern Illinois Miners' games at Rent One Park, affairs at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, The Southern Illinois Roller Girls bouts at the Williamson Co Pavilion, the two dozen wineries inside a 45-mile (72 km) radius of the town/city including those on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and the Southern Illinois Wine Trail, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge adjoining to the city, Lake of Egypt immediately to the south and the Shawnee National Forest and various state parks that stretch along the Shawnee Hills from river to river.
Southern Illinois Miners Baseball Frontier League; West Division 2012 Rent One Park Southern Illinois Roller Girls Roller derby WFTDA Marion Pavilion Marion's town/city government is led by longtime municipal leader, Mayor Robert L.
The town/city operates on a town/city commission fitness of government with the mayor and four town/city commissioners, each propel for four-year terms.
Following a town/city popular vote some years ago, the town/city is also a Home Rule improve which gives the council greater flexibility to act than a typical town/city commission form of government. The Marion Park District is autonomous of town/city government.
Illinois Route 13, originally along Main Street, and Illinois Route 37 (Court Street) both opened up in the first round of the difficult roads highway fitness in the 1920s.
In addition to the two existing interchanges, a new southbound off-ramp at Morgan Avenue on the north side of the town/city will be period later in 2011 with a new northbound on-ramp from Morgan onto the interstate.
The Illinois Department of Transportation is making plans to widen Interstate 57 from four to six lanes from Interstate 24 south of Marion north to the interchanges with Interstate 64 at Mount Vernon.
It picks up to 22,500 on the east side of the intersection with Illinois Route 37; 25,000 by the intersection with North Carbon Street; 31,100 by the east side of the interstate.
Interstate 57 sees an average of 33,700 vehicles making up the traffic county north of Exit 54 at Marion and 26,900 vehicles a day south of Exit 53. Other primary street projects underway at the present time is the extension of Champions Drive south to Halfway Road which will connect Kokopelli Golf Course with Rent One Park and the city's primary hotel district; as well as engineering work for widening Morgan Drive, Carbon and Russell Streets to handle traffic expected to be generated in a several years by the Millennium Development.
Williamson County Regional Airport serves the town/city and is positioned at the extreme edge of the city.
Illinois Retail Lumber Dealers Convention, Marion, Ill., Jan.
Southern Illinois Tourism News blog.
Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society.
Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society.
On Marion and Williamson County Tornado, Saturday, May 29, 1982, 2002, National Weather Service, NOAA Southern Illinois Tourism News.
Southern Illinois Tourism News; and Jon Musgrave.
Southern Illinois Tourism News.
Southern Illinois Tourism News.
Southern Illinois Miners Southern Illinois Roller Girls "Marion, Illinois" Community Profile.
Southern Illinois Tourism News blog at https://williamsoncountytourism.blogspot.com Marion, Illinois.
Southern Illinois Tourism News.
City of Marion Illinois website.
Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society.
History of Williamson County, Illinois.
Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marion, Illinois.
Municipalities and communities of Williamson County, Illinois, United States
Categories:
Cities in Illinois - Micropolitan areas of Illinois - Cities in Williamson County, Illinois - County seats in Illinois - Marion, Illinois - Mining communities in Illinois - Populated places established in 1839 - 1839 establishments in Illinois
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