Editing Waterloo, Illinois (section)

===20th century===
On December 1, 1978, the [[Waterloo Historic District (Illinois)|Waterloo Historic District]] was recognized and placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The city of Waterloo also has been recognized for its work through [[Sister Cities International]]. On October 2, 1980, Waterloo announced a Sister Cities partnership (officially recognized April 1981) with [[Porta Westfalica]] in (then) [[West Germany]]. Due primarily to the efforts of Vera Kohlmeier of Waterloo and Helmut Macke of Porta Westfalica, it came about as a result of genealogical research, which concluded that perhaps two-thirds of Monroe County's German population could trace their ancestry back to this region of northern [[Germany]].[[File:Porta.jpg|thumb|400px|left|View over Porta Westfalica, Germany, Waterloo's sister city]]Porta Westfalica itself came about in 1973 as a conglomeration of 15 villages into a city of over 40,000. Located on the [[Weser River]] in northern Germany, Porta Westfalica is situated in a valley between two large hills. Trips by large groups typically occur every two years, including visits by the Waterloo German Band and the Bläserkreis, Porta's 70-member youth brass band. Charitable donations have also been raised for East German [[refugee]]s and the victims of the 1993 [[Great Flood of 1993|flood]]. This partnership, which goes by the [[portmanteau]] Portaloo, has since assisted other communities in the area to establish Sister Cities programs of their own, including [[Columbia, Illinois|Columbia]]/[[Gedern]], [[Belleville, Illinois|Belleville]]/[[Paderborn]], and [[Millstadt, Illinois|Millstadt]]/[[Groß-Bieberau]]. "Portaloo" has been honored with seven coveted [[Reader's Digest]] awards for its Sister Cities program. Every summer this city holds it annual "Porta Westfalica Fest" or "PortaFest" in honor of its sister city.<ref>"[http://www.waterloo.il.us/JumpMenu/default.htm City of Waterloo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807082722/http://www.waterloo.il.us/JumpMenu/default.htm |date=2007-08-07 }}".  municipal site. Retrieved on August 8, 2007.</ref>
In 2017, Waterloo was named by Safewise.com as the 12th Safest City In America (with population over 10,000).<ref>"[https://www.safewise.com/safest-cities-america]". Retrieved on July 16, 2017.</ref>
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[[Image:Fountain Creek Bridge.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Fountain Creek Bridge]], west of the city limits]]