Editing Decatur, Illinois (section)

==History==

===19th century===
[[File:Statue of Abraham Lincoln on the site of his first political speech, downtown Decatur, IL.jpg|thumb|Statue of Abraham Lincoln in downtown Decatur on the site of his first political speech.]]
The city is named after [[War of 1812]] naval hero [[Stephen Decatur]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Callary|first=Edward|title=Place Names of Illinois|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvHgwa-XImcC&pg=PA89|date=September 29, 2008|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-09070-7|page=89}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Illinois Central Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WI3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PT49|year=1922|publisher=Illinois Central Railroad Company|page=44}}</ref> The [[Potawatomi Trail of Death]] passed through the city in 1838. Post No. 1 of the [[Grand Army of the Republic]] was founded by Civil War veterans in Decatur on April 6, 1866.

Decatur was the first home in Illinois of [[Abraham Lincoln]], who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1830. At the age of 21, Lincoln gave his first political speech in Decatur about the importance of [[Sangamon River]] navigation, which caught the attention of Illinois political leaders.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} As a lawyer on the 8th Judicial Circuit, Lincoln made frequent stops in Decatur, and argued five cases in the log courthouse that stood on the corner of Main & Main Streets. The original courthouse is now on the grounds of the Macon County Historical Museum on North Fork Road.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Sheila |date=April 30, 2009 |title=Decatur original: Visitors can see log cabin courthouse where Lincoln practiced law |url=https://herald-review.com/special-section/news/outlook/decatur-original-visitors-can-see-log-cabin-courthouse-where-lincoln-practiced-law/article_96332b6e-c2c3-59a8-ba40-adb0e695b1e3.html |access-date=March 9, 2025 |work=Herald and Review}}</ref> [[John Hanks]], first cousin of Abraham Lincoln, lived in Decatur.

On May 9 and 10, 1860, the [[Illinois Republican Party|Illinois Republican]] State Convention was held in Decatur. At this convention, Lincoln received his first endorsement for President of the United States as "The Railsplitter Candidate". In commemoration of Lincoln's bicentennial, the [[Illinois Republican Party|Illinois Republican]] State Convention was held in Decatur at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel on June 6 and 7, 2008.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ingram |first=Ron |title=Ties to Lincoln draw state GOP convention to Decatur |website=[[Herald & Review]] |location=Decatur, Illinois |date=July 14, 2007 |url=http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/07/14/news/local_news/1024970.txt}}</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:President Taft speaking at Decatur Ill., Feb. 11, 1911 LCCN2002697889.jpg|thumb|President [[William Howard Taft]] speaking in Decatur, 1911]]
The first modern fly-destruction device ([[fly swatter]]) was invented in 1900 by [[Robert R. Montgomery]], an entrepreneur based in Decatur, Ill. Montgomery was issued Patent No. 640,790 for the Fly-Killer, a "cheap device of unusual elasticity and durability" made of wire netting, "preferably oblong," attached to a handle.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Reeves |first1=Hope |title=Who Made That Fly Swatter? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/magazine/who-made-that-fly-swatter.html |access-date=August 6, 2023 |work=The New York Times |issue=Magazine |date=May 25, 2012}}</ref>

For much of the 20th century, the city was known as "The Soybean Capital of the World" owing to its being the location of the headquarters of [[A. E. Staley]] Manufacturing Company, a major grain processor in the 1920s, which popularized the use of soybeans to produce products for human consumption such as oil, meal and flour.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/nicknamesofcitie00kane|title=Nicknames of Cities and States of the U.S.|last1=Kane|first1=Joseph Nathan|last2=Alexander|first2=Gerard L.|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|year=1965|page=[https://archive.org/details/nicknamesofcitie00kane/page/66 66]|lccn=65-13550|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/ref/collection/posttest/id/93|title=Greetings from Decatur Illinois, Soy Bean Capital of the World|work=idaillinois.org|access-date=October 7, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924033047/http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/ref/collection/posttest/id/93|archive-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> At one time, over a third of all the soybeans grown in the world were processed in Decatur, Illinois.  In 1955 a group of Decatur businessmen founded the Soy Capital Bank to trade on the nickname.

Decatur was awarded the [[All-America City Award]] in 1960, one of eleven cities honored that year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allamericacityaward.com/things-to-know-about-all-america-city-award/past-winners-of-the-all-america-city-award/past-winners-of-the-all-america-city-award-1960s/|title=Past Winners of the All-America City Award|publisher=National Civic League|at=Winning Communities – 1960|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426055702/http://www.allamericacityaward.com/things-to-know-about-all-america-city-award/past-winners-of-the-all-america-city-award/past-winners-of-the-all-america-city-award-1960s/|archive-date=April 26, 2013|access-date=April 25, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/america-city-award/past-winners/|title=Past Winners|website=All-America City Winners|publisher=National Civic League|type=Search interface – filter on year 1960 and state Illinois to show Decatur; or search for Decatur, which returns Illinois as one of the search results.|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref> Decatur is an affiliate of the [[List of Main Street Programs in the United States|U.S. Main Street program]], in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

On July 19, 1974, a tanker car containing isobutane collided with a boxcar in the [[Norfolk and Western Railway|Norfolk & Western]] railroad yard in the East End of Decatur. The resulting explosion killed seven people, injured 349, and caused $18&nbsp;million in property damage including extensive damage to nearby Lakeview High School.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tank-Car Explosion Injures 129 Persons In Illinois Rail Yard |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/20/archives/tankcar-explosion-injures-129-persons-in-illinois-rail-yard.html |access-date=July 22, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=July 20, 1974}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gendisasters.com/illinois/13000/decatur-il-tank-cars-explode-july-1974|title=Decatur, IL Tank Cars Explode, July 1974|work=gendisasters.com|access-date=October 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016171747/http://www3.gendisasters.com/illinois/13000/decatur-il-tank-cars-explode-july-1974|archive-date=October 16, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Reid |first1=Tony |title=45 years later, memories of the 1974 Decatur rail yard explosion remain fresh |url=https://www.effinghamdailynews.com/news/45-years-later-memories-of-the-1974-decatur-rail-yard-explosion-remain-fresh/article_e7fc0335-62d8-52c4-aacc-d96f88059faa.html |access-date=April 11, 2022 |date=July 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>[https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/46017 Interstate Commerce {{sic|Commi|sion|nolink=y}}, Report of the Accident Investigation {{sic|Occu|ring|nolink=y}} on the Norkfolk And Western Railway, Decatur, IL] - [[NTSB]] at ROSAP</ref>

On April 18 and 19, 1996, the city was hit by tornadoes. On April 18, an [[Fujita scale|F1]] tornado hit the city's southeast side, followed by an [[Fujita scale|F3]] tornado [[Tornado outbreak sequence of April 1996|the following evening]] on the northwest side. That same tornado then skipped twice, hitting businesses on the northeast side. The two storms totaled approximately $10.5&nbsp;million in property damage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/?n=macon-tor |title=National Weather Service, Lincoln IL – Macon County Tornadoes Since 1950 |publisher=Crh.noaa.gov |access-date=March 5, 2014}}</ref>

A new branding effort for Decatur and Macon County was unveiled in 2015, Limitless Decatur.<ref name=":1" /> The marketing strategy intended to attract and retain business and residents by promoting the Decatur area as modern and progressive with opportunities to live, work, and develop.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=http://herald-review.com/news/local/city-limitless-extols-decatur-area-s-potential/article_e3183d52-58a1-5c8a-904f-46c172bfa78e.html|title=City Limitless extols Decatur area's potential|last1=Lusvardi|first1=Chris|date=May 8, 2015|work=Herald & Review|access-date=October 12, 2019|publisher=Lee Enterprises|last2=Petty|first2=Allison|location=Decatur, Illinois}}</ref>

====Jesse Jackson protest====
In November 1999, Decatur was brought into the national news when [[Jesse Jackson]] and the [[Rainbow/PUSH|Rainbow/PUSH Coalition]] protested the two-year expulsion of seven African American students who had been involved in a serious fight at an Eisenhower High School football game under a recently enacted "zero tolerance" policy. Six of the students were arrested but not charged after the fracas. Four were later charged as adults with mob action, a felony. Jesse Jackson intervened in the incident, bringing the controversy to national attention, protesting both the severity and length of the punishment and also alleging racial bias (schools in Decatur in 1999 had an enrollment that was about 44 percent black, while five of the six Decatur students expelled in the prior year were black).<ref>[https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/11/10/deadlock-in-decatur/ Chicago Tribune: "Deadlock In Decatur: Teens Charged In Stadium Fistfight Jackson Challenges Expulsions In Court, Vows New Showdown"] November 10, 1999</ref><ref>[http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/race/111099race-ra.html ''New York Times'': "7 Students Charged in a Brawl That Divides Decatur, Ill."] November 10, 1999</ref> Jackson pointed out he was invited by the students' parents and that he spoke with them, the kids, ministers and teachers before protesting the zero-tolerance severity of the punishment: "No one can survive zero tolerance," Jackson said. "We all need mercy and grace."<ref name="pantagraph.com">[http://www.pantagraph.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/article_9a6ca61e-d853-11de-8391-001cc4c03286.html The Bloomington Pantagraph: "Decatur's scars still show decade after expulsions"] November 23, 1999</ref>

Outside of Decatur, public support was largely against the School Board's decision but changed once a videotape of the incident surfaced filmed by a parent at the game. Broadcast on national TV news, it showed a melee that swept through one end of the grandstands, with kicking and punching, as some of the fighters tumbled over the rails. The game was stopped and players gawked at the fighting in the bleachers. Ed Bohem, the principal at MacArthur High School who attended the game, described it as a riot: "I feared for the safety of our people -- my parents, my students," Bohem said, referring to the crowd in the bleachers. "You had people pushed through bars, people covering little children so they wouldn't get hurt. It was violent."<ref name="pantagraph.com"/><ref name="partners.nytimes.com">[http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/race/111099race-ra.html New Tork Times: "7 Students Charged in a Brawl  That Divides Decatur, Ill."] November 10, 1999</ref> Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH Coalition organized marches that included hundreds of people bused in from outside the area, criticizing the school board for what Jackson said was unfairly harsh treatment of the boys over a fight. Jackson was arrested and detained briefly; however, charges were later dropped.<ref>[http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-16/us/9911_16_expelled.students.04_1_alternative-school-oneyear-expulsion-school-board?_s=PM:US CNN: "Jesse Jackson arrested in Illinois high school protest"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006020830/http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-16/us/9911_16_expelled.students.04_1_alternative-school-oneyear-expulsion-school-board?_s=PM:US |date=October 6, 2012 }} November 16, 1999</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-17/us/9911_17_expelled.students_1_alternative-school-seventh-student-school-board?_s=PM:US |title=CNN: "Decatur school board refuses to budge on expulsions" November 17, 1999. |access-date=March 10, 2022 |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006020916/http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-17/us/9911_17_expelled.students_1_alternative-school-seventh-student-school-board?_s=PM:US |url-status=dead }}</ref> School officials say the students involved in the fighting were known as truants, described three of them as "third-year freshmen", and noted that the seven students had missed a combined 350 days of high school.<ref name="partners.nytimes.com"/>

The issue dissipated when the school board reduced the original expulsions from two years to one year and agreed to let the students earn credit while attending an alternative school.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110511154338/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-11-15/news/9911150161_1_local-school-school-board-rev-jesse-jackson/2 ''Chicago Tribune'': "Decatur Debate Turns Into 3-ring Act " November 15, 1999]</ref>

The students involved in the fight have since taken different paths in life: one having been sentenced to state prison for 10 years for a 2004 felony drug conviction; another having finished college (helped by a Rainbow PUSH scholarship); another working as a butcher; and a fourth being arrested for home invasion in 2009.<ref>[http://www.bet.com/News/National_Decaturs_Still_Show_Decade_After_Expulsions.htm BET: "Decatur's Scars Still Show Decade After Expulsions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125161011/http://www.bet.com/News/National_Decaturs_Still_Show_Decade_After_Expulsions.htm |date=November 25, 2009 }} November 23, 1999</ref> Jesse Jackson was criticized for turning what could have been a legitimate criticism/discussion of the effects of "zero tolerance" policies into national debate by attempting to present the seven youths as victims of bigotry.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/326741 ''The Economist'': "Jesse Jackson's wrong target"] November 25, 1999</ref>