The "Yankee" New Englanders laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes.

[7][8][9][10][11][12] The town was laid out on a treeless prairie and along a state road that ran from Springfield to the Illinois River.

In 1829, the Presbyterian Reverend John M. Ellis worked to found a new "seminary of learning" in the new state of Illinois.

A group of Congregational students at Yale College heard about his plans and headed westward to establish the new school.

By 1834, Jacksonville had the largest population of any city in the state of Illinois, vastly outnumbering Chicago (only founded the year before).

The Potawatomi passed through here in 1838 on what they called their Trail of Death as they were forced from their traditional homelands to the dry and barren Indian Territory to the west.

The Illinois Conference Female Academy was founded for education for girls; it later developed as MacMurray College.

[17] In what is now Central Park, Lincoln delivered a strong antislavery speech on September 6, 1856, in support of the presidential campaign of John C. Frémont, lasting over two hours.

[17] Built in 1840, the Woodlawn Farm became an important stop on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves escaping the terrors of slavery in the South.

[21] In 1911 as part of the progressive movement, Jacksonville adopted the city commission form of government, the first mayor being George W.

This plant eventually served the Capitol Records Club, producing vinyl LPs and later audiocassettes, CDs, and DVDs of a number of artists.

[27] Lake Jacksonville was named the "Number One Fishing Spot in Illinois" by Field & Stream magazine.

Jacksonville is the home of the Eli Bridge Company, manufacturer of Ferris wheels and other amusement rides such as the Scrambler.

Sullivan founded the firm with the introduction of his first portable "Big Eli" Wheel on the Jacksonville Square on May 23, 1900.

He was inspired to make this portable version of the famous amusement ride after visiting the World's Columbian Exposition and seeing the original Ferris Wheel created by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.[33] Jacksonville was once home to the J. Capps & Son Company, one of the largest manufacturers of textiles and clothing in the United States, and owned by the Capps family, which was intermarried with the family of Jacob Bunn and John Whitfield Bunn of Springfield, Illinois, and Chicago.

Reynolds Group Holdings (formerly Mobil Plastics, Tenneco, Pactiv) and Nestlé Beverage Co. have facilities in Jacksonville.

Lincoln Land Community College's Western Region Education Center is also located in Jacksonville.

The station activates the SAME tone alarm feature and a 1050 Hz tone activating older radios (except for AMBER Alerts, using the SAME feature only) for hazardous weather and non-weather warnings and emergencies, along with selected weather watches, for the Illinois counties of Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan, Pike, and Scott.

[44] In 2005, Sufjan Stevens released Illinois, a concept album making reference to various people and places associated with the state.

The song tells the story of a blind and deaf man who was found wandering the streets in Jacksonville in 1945.

During his 48 years of institutionalization, nobody ever found out his name, nor did anyone who knew or was related to him come to Jacksonville to establish his identity.

Recent additions to the cultural scene include the Imagine Foundation and the Eclectic art gallery, both located in the city's downtown.

Jacksonville also holds the unusual distinction of having a large number of pipe organs for a city of its size – eleven in all – found at various local churches, as well as both of its four-year colleges.

[47] The origins of this community can be traced to 1838, when a Scottish reverend named Robert Reid Kalley visited the Portuguese island of Madeira and converted a number of the locals to Protestantism.