Editing Greenville, Illinois (section)

==Geography==
Greenville is located near the center of Bond County. [[U.S. Route 40 in Illinois|U.S. Route 40]] and [[Interstate 70 (Illinois)|Interstate 70]] pass to the south of downtown, both highways leading west {{convert|49|mi}} to [[St. Louis]] and east {{convert|19|mi}} to [[Vandalia, Illinois|Vandalia]].

Greenville is also located on [[Illinois Route 127]], which is a major north–south route connecting Southern Illinois to Springfield.

The [[National Road]] passes through Greenville.  East of Greenville it follows [[Illinois Route 140]], and west it follows U.S. Route 40.  Its route west of town was the source of a historic controversy.  Original plans were to connect Greenville to St. Louis.  However, the [[Illinois General Assembly]] preferred a route to [[Alton, Illinois|Alton]] to favor an Illinois city directly on the [[Mississippi River]].  When federal money for the road ran out in 1840 at Vandalia, 19 miles east of Greenville, the State Legislature refused to fund it further.  Residents of Greenville, [[Highland, Illinois|Highland]], [[Troy, Illinois|Troy]], and [[Collinsville, Illinois|Collinsville]] paid to complete the road to [[East St. Louis, Illinois|East St. Louis]].  The "State Policy" of favoring Alton over St. Louis remained a major political issue in Illinois until the Civil War.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4xE0AQAAMAAJ&q=greenville+vandalia+illinois+mississippi+turnpike&pg=PA140|title=Laws of the State of Illinois: Passed by the ... General Assembly at Their ... Session|last=Illinois|date=April 19, 2018|publisher=Robert Blackwell|access-date=April 19, 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref>

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Greenville has a total area of {{convert|6.31|sqmi|km2|2}}, all land.<ref name="gaz2021">{{Cite web  |title=Gazetteer Files |url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=Census.gov}}</ref>