ZIP Code 61364

Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately 81 miles (130 km) southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the population of Streator was 12,500. It is the hometown of Clyde Tombaugh, who in 1930 discovered the dwarf planet Pluto, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. It received its current name to honor Worthy S. Streater, an Ohio industrialist who financed the region's first coal mining operation. Streatingor is governed by a Managercouncil style of government. It maintains police and fire departments as well as a public works system. Its current mayor is Jimmie Lansford. It hosts annual events including Streators' Park Fest, the Roamer Cruise Night and the Light Up StreatOr celebration. It was the birthplace of George "Honey Boy" Evans, who wrote "In the Good Old Summer Time" The city's economy is led by heavy-equipment manufacturer Vactor, food distributor U.S. Foodservice and glass bottle manufacturer Owens-Illinois. It also has a major glass manufacturer and its status as a midwestern railroad hub. It has one of the highest murder rates in the state, with more than 1,000 people per 100,000 residents.

History

Streator received its current name to honor Worthy S. Streator, an Ohio industrialist who financed the region's first coal mining operation. The city is the hometown of Clyde Tombaugh, who in 1930 discovered the dwarf planet Pluto, and George "Honey Boy" Evans, who wrote "In the Good Old Summer Time" The city's early growth was due to the coal mine, as well as a major glass manufacturer and its status as a midwestern railroad hub. It received a town charter in 1868 and incorporated as a city in 1882. Its current mayor is Jimmie Lansford, who has been in office since 1998. The area was sparsely populated by French, British and American fur traders during the 18th century. The Illinois and Michigan Canal connected Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River in 1821, greatly increasing shipping traffic in the region. Land speculation ensued, and settlements in the area sprouted in the early 19th century, leading to the development of the city of Chicago and the region around it. In 1824, surveyors for the canal arrived in this area of the Vermillion River, followed by homesteaders by the 1830s. In 1861, miner John O'Neill established a trading post called "Hardscrabble" (ironically an early name for the Bridgeport neighborhood), supposedly because he watched loaded animals struggle up the river's banks. The settlement was eventually abandoned by 1691. In 1679, French explorer Robert de LaSalle ordered a fortification to be built at the site that was later known as Starved Rock. The French and local tribes attacked the Kaskaskia village and the 8,000 villagers dispersed.

Geography

Streator is located at 41°0715N 88°5007W (41.1208668, 88.8353520) It has an average annual rainfall of 34.68 inches (88.09 cm), with an annual snowfall of 22.0 in (55.88 cm) The highest temperature recorded in Streator was 112 °F (44 °C) in July 1936. About 68% of Illinois has coal-bearing strata of the Pennsylvanian geologic period. The St. Peter sandstone is an Ordovician formation in the Chazyan stage of the Champlainian series. It consists of 99.44% silica, which is used for the manufacture of glass. An F3 tornado killed six people and injured 30 on July 17, 1903, killing five people when the grandstand of a racetrack, where they had taken shelter, collapsed. In 1951, the Vermilion River reached a flood level of 18 feet (549 cm) A tornado touched down on June 5, 2010, causing EF0 and EF1 damage as it traveled east. No fatalities were reported, but there were reports of leveled houses and extensive damage throughout the area. The town has a continental climate, influenced by the Great Lakes. Its average winter temperature is 25.0°F (3.9°C) and its average summer temperature is 75.0ºF (23.9 °C). The town's coal mining history closely parallels Illinois', with a great push in coal production from 1866 until the 1920s.

Demographics

As of the census of 2020, there were 12,500 people, 5,762 households, and 2,949.38 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 86.7% White, 3.8% African American, 0% Native American, 1.7%. The city is a principal city of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which was the tenth-most populous Mic Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States as of 2009. The small Livingston County portion of Streator is part of the Pontiac Micropolitan statistical Area.Historically, the population of LaSalle County has increased 75% between 1870 and 1990, while the statewide population has grown 350%.:13% of the population was under the age of 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over. The median income for a household in theCity was $40,778, and the median income. for a family was $59,266. The per capita income for the city is $25,818. About 21.5% of residents was below the poverty line, including 40.0% ofThose under age 18 and4.6%. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was2.89. The city has a population density of 1,690/sq mi (650/km²) and a median age of 40.4 years. For every 100 females, there are 93.8 males. For each 100 females age 18 or over, there is 93.9 males.

Economy

Streator's economic history has been tied with its natural resources. Coal was the initial catalyst of the city's economy from 1866 until the late 1920s. As the community matured, silica deposits provided the resource for the next industry leader: glass-container manufacturing.:248 While the coal industry eventually died, glass manufacturing remains a presence in Streator. Agriculture and related agri-business in the farmlands of LaSalle County and nearby Livingston County are also a strong influence. Though manufacturing provides the greatest share of earnings, the service industry now accounts for the largest share of jobs in the town of 5,000. The city was known as the "Glass Container Capital of the World" through the 20th century. The town was briefly home to the Erie Motor Carriage Company (which became Barley Motor Car Co.) The city's largest employer is St. Mary's Hospital with 550 employees. In late 2015, OSF Healthcare system purchased the hospital from HSHS Medical Group, and it is undetermined what OSF will do with the hospital. It is still unclear what the future of the hospital will be after OSF takes over the hospital in late 2015. Streater's major agricultural crops include corn and soybeans. Its main agricultural crops are corn, soybeans and soybean husks. The community's largest agricultural crop is corn, and its major agricultural crop of soybeans is soybeans, which is the town's main crop. The area's second major industry is corn-and-sugar beet farming.

Arts, culture and media

Streator's parks and events reflect its heritage and prairie locale. The Walldogs painted 17 murals in the summer of 2018. The Majestic Theatre, an art deco style movie house, originally opened in 1907 as a vaudeville house. The Streator Public Library was made possible with a $35,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. The town's turn-of-the-20th-century City Hall on Park Street (now a business) is accessible to the public, with some limitations. The Ruffin Drew Fletcher House located on East Broadway Street is an example of Stick style architecture. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in August 1991. The Silas Williams House is a Queen Anne style home built-in 1893. Founded in 1883, St. Stephens Catholic Church was the first Slovak Catholic church in the United States. In September 2010, the four Roman Catholic churches were consolidated into one new parish named St. Michael the Archangel. Currently all masses are conducted at St. Stephen's Church and discussions are continuing to decide if a new church will be built or if one of the existing churches will be rebuilt. A group of local volunteers served over 1.5 million soldiers during World War II who briefly stopped at the city's old Santa Fe Train Depot while traveling by troop trains. Other features include a homemade telescope used by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh and a Burlington Northern caboose rail car. The annual "Heritage Tractor Adventure" along the Illinois Michigan Canal runs for over four days with events throughout the city.

Parks and recreation

The city of Streator maintains eight local parks and one public golf course. Local sports activities include the Youth football league, American Youth Soccer Organization, Little League Baseball, and American Legion Baseball. Local residents who have enjoyed careers in Major League Baseball include Andy Bednar, Rube Novotney, Adam Shabouter, and Clay Zavada. The city's 10-year-old Little League All-Stars took home the Illinois State Championship versus Chicago Cubs in 2002. The town was represented in the IllinoisMissouri League, an American minor league baseball league, from 1912 through 1914. In 2012 construction began, in the southwest quadrant of City Park, on a new venue suitable for concerts; it was later announced that this would be called Plumb Pavilion (in honor of Streatingor's first mayor, Ralph Plumb) The Streater Zips won the Illinois state Championship for Mickey Mantle baseball in both 2003 and 2004. The Streatedor Reds, an age 16-and-under team, won the Senior League Illinois State Tournament defeating the team from Burbank, Illinois in 2008. The Reds were eliminated in the first round with a 22 record in Columbia, Missouri, where they were eliminated from the tournament in the second round. The Zips are now known as the "Streator Reds" or the "Zips" due to their age and the fact that they were the only team in the league that was under the age of 16 at the time of the tournament.

Law and government

The city operates under a City Manager form of government. Elected officials include its mayor, Tara Bedei (Pro Tem) and the four members of the city council; Brian Crouch, Jacob Darby, Tim Geary, and Matt McMullen. Streator is in served in Illinois's 16th congressional district, currently represented by Adam Kinzinger. The city is in the 38th legislative district and 76th representative district. The respective legislators for these districts are Senator Sue Rezin and Representative Lance Yednock. The first chief of police was Martin Malloy (1840-1911). Led by Chief of Police, Robert Turner Jr., the current department has a staff of 19 patrol officers, 1 school resource officer, 3 investigators, and 1 administrative assistant who all oversee the city's law enforcement operations. Fire protection services are provided by Reading Township Fire Department in the south, east and west. Grand Ridge Fire Department covers fire services for the northern unincorporated areas. The uninc incorporated portions of South Streatingor are served by the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Pontiac. TheUnincorporated portions of Otter Creek and Eagle Townships in LaSalle County are servedby LaSale County Sheriff’s Office in Ottawa. The current 911 Center has since been consolidated with Livingston County Dispatch. Firefighters work a traditional 24 on/48 off schedule. The public works department oversees the maintenance and operation of the City's public infrastructure including roadways, sanitation, parks and fleet.

Education

Streator has one parochial elementary school, St. Anthony's Catholic School, now known as St. Michael the Archangel. Nearby Illinois Valley Community College is located in Oglesby, Illinois. The Carnegie Foundation funded the Streator Public Library, which opened in 1903. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The city is served by three school districts: Streater Elementary School District, Woodland Community Unit School District #5, and Streatingor Township High School District. It also has one combination elementary/junior high school, Junior High and Elementary School. It is located on the Illinois Turnpike, which runs from Chicago to Bloomington. The town is also served by the Illinois State University system, which is based in Bloomington and runs from Bloomington to Chicago. It has one campus, the University of Illinois at Chicago, which was founded in 1894. The University of Chicago has a campus in Chicago that opened in 1891. The Illinois State College of Technology is also located in the town, and has a satellite campus in Carbondale. It opened in 1913. It offers a variety of programs, including a welding program and a computer science program. The college also has a business program that it offers to students from around the state. It closed in the 1980s and has since reopened as a part of the Illinois College of Science and Technology, which also serves the Livingston County portion of the city. The school district also serves a number of private schools, including St. John's University.

Infrastructure

Streator is isolated in that it is located at least a 15-minute drive from the nearest US interstate highway. Rail service is provided by Norfolk Southern Railway, BNSF Railway and the Illinois Railway. The city of Streator does not provide a mass transit system. It is served by Illinois State Routes 23 and 18, which intersect in downtown. St. Mary's Hospital is an affiliate of the Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) It is located in the city's downtown area, near the Illinois State Route 23/18 intersection. It has a helipad and is home to SAINTS Flight 2, a helicopter transport service, the first to be dedicated to the Illinois Valley. It was shut down on October 1, 2010, due to insufficient flight volume to sustain operations. It also has a satellite office for Advanced Medical Transport of Central Illinois, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, which provides paramedic advanced life support for the region. It does not have its own public transit system, but Amtrak and AT&SF used to serve the city at a station on the Illinois state route 23/24. It's located in a rural area, and is at least 15 minutes away from any major interstate highway or major city. The town has a population of about 2,000 people, with the majority of its residents living in the central part of the city. It lies in the Sangamon County area, which is the largest county in the state, with most of its population in the southern portion.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Streator, LaSalle County, Illinois = 62.4. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Streator = 3.8 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 12,500 individuals with a median age of 38.2 age the population dropped by -3.47% in Streator, LaSalle County, Illinois population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 1,694.69 residents per square mile of area (645.45/km²). There are average 2.38 people per household in the 5,653 households with an average household income of $40,195 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 13.30% of the available work force and has dropped -6.07% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 14.56%. The number of physicians in Streator per 100,000 population = 95.5.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Streator = 36.8 inches and the annual snowfall = 29.5 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 103. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 189. 85 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 13.3 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 44, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Streator, LaSalle County, Illinois which are owned by the occupant = 64.65%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 61 years with median home cost = $70,290 and home appreciation of 2.45%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $18.38 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,447 per student. There are 16.1 students for each teacher in the school, 1728 students for each Librarian and 1152 students for each Counselor. 6.24% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 5.76% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 3.45% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).