List of city nicknames in Illinois explained

This list of city nicknames in Illinois compiles the aliases, sobriquets and slogans that Illinois cities are known by (or have been known by historically), officially and unofficially, to municipal governments, local people, outsiders, or their tourism boards or chambers of commerce. City nicknames can help in establishing a civic identity, helping outsiders recognize a community or attracting people to a community because of its nickname; promote civic pride; and build community unity.^[1] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth" are also believed to have economic value. Their economic value is difficult to measure, but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.^[2]

Some unofficial nicknames are positive, while others are derisive. The unofficial nicknames listed here have been in use for a long time or have gained wide currency.

Nicknames by city

• Algonquin – Gem of the Fox River Valley^[3]
• Arlington Heights – Action Heights
• Aurora – City of Lights^[4]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty^[5]
• Batavia
  • The Windmill City^[6]
  • City of Energy^[7]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Beardstown – Watermelon Capital^[8]
• Belleville – Belle-Vegas
• Bloomington – The Evergreen City^[9]
• Bloomington–Normal together
  • Blo-No^[10]
  • The Twin Cities^[11]
• Buffalo Grove – The Gymnastics Capital of Illinois
• Canton – Plow City
• Champaign–Urbana
  • Chambana^[12]
  • Twin Cities
• Charleston – Chucktown^[13]
• Chester – The Home of Popeye^[14]
• Chicago (A to Z)
  • Chi-Town^[15]
  • Chiraq^[16]
  • City in a Garden (literal translation of city motto, Urbs in horto)^[17]
  • The City of the Big Shoulders^[18] (from Chicago, a Carl Sandburg poem)
  • The City That Works (by Mayor Daley, for example^[19])
  • Mud City^[20]
  • The Second City^[18]
  • The White City (referencing the World's Columbian Exposition)
  • The Windy City^[18]

• Collinsville – Horseradish Capital of the World^[21]
• Crystal Lake – A Good Place to Live^[22]
• Decatur
  • D-Town^[23]
  • Soybean Capital of the World^[24]
  • Soy City
• DeKalb – Barbed Wire Capital of the World^[21]
• Des Plaines – City of Destiny^[25]
• East St. Louis
  • City of Champions
  • East Boogie
  • East Side
  • ESL
• Effingham – The Ham
• Elgin
  • The City in the Suburbs^[26]
  • The City to Watch^[27]
• Evanston – Heavenston^[28]
• Freeport – Pretzel City, USA^[29]
• Griggsville – Purple Martin Capital of the World^{[21] [30]}
• Glen Ellyn – Babcock's Grove^[31]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Huntley – The Friendly Village with Country Charm^[32]
• Joliet
  • City of Champions^[33]
  • City of "Snap and Progress"
  • City of Steel (or City of Steel and Stone)^{[34] [35]}
  • City of Stone^[34]
  • Prison City (or Prison Town)^{[36] [37] [38]}
  • J-Town
• Kankakee – Key City
• Kewanee – Hog Capital of the World^[39]
• Lombard – The Lilac Village^[40]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Lisle – The Arboretum Village
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Marion – Hub City of the Universe^[41]
• Marseilles
  • Martucky
  • Best Little Town by a Dam Site^[42]
• Mattoon – Bagel Capital of the World^[43]
• Maywood – Village of Eternal Light^[44]
• Melrose Park – Corporate King of the Suburbs
• Metropolis – The Home of Superman^[45]
• Moline – Plow Capital of the World^[8]
• Monmouth – The Maple City^[46]
• Morton – Pumpkin Capital of the World^[47]
• Naperville – Naperthrill^[48]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Olney – Home of the White Squirrels^[49]
• Park Ridge – Home of the Hawks^[50]
• Pana – City of Roses^[51]
• Pekin
  • Celestial City^[52]
  • Marigold Capital of the World^[53]
• Peoria – P-Town
• Quincy – Gem City^[54]
• Rantoul – Rantucky^[55]
• Rockford
  • The Forest City^[56]
  • Screw City^[57]
    • Springfield Flower City
  • Springpatch^[58]
• St. Charles – The Pride of the Fox^[59]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Teutopolis – T-Town
• Thomson – The Melon Capital of the World^[60]
• Warrenville – For a Visit, Or a Lifetime^[61]
  • The Dirty Six-Thirty
• Wilmington – The Island City^[62]

See also

• List of municipalities in Illinois
• List of city nicknames in the United States

External links

• a list of American and a few Canadian nicknames
• U.S. cities list

Notes and References

1. Web site: Muench, David . Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts . University of Wisconsin Extension . December 1993 . April 10, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130309175857/http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/economies/communityindicators/communityslogans.pdf . March 9, 2013.
2. Web site: Andia. Alfredo. Branding the Generic City :). MONU – magazine on urbanism. 14 January 2012. 10 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20080521163526/http://www.monu.org/monu7/Branding.pdf. 21 May 2008. dead.
3. Web site: History of Algonquin . Village of Algonquin, IL . 14 January 2012 . 9 February 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140803071129/http://www.algonquin.org/egov/docs/11441587979.htm . 3 August 2014 .
4. Web site: Aurora History – A Rapidly Growing City. About Our City. City of Aurora, IL. 14 January 2012. Later, when the City was the first in the United States to use electric lights for publicly lighting the entire City, it achieved the nickname of 'City of Lights'.. dead. https://archive.today/20120729181648/http://www.aurora-il.org/aboutourcity.php. 29 July 2012.
5. Web site: Urban Dictionary: The Dirty Six-Thirty . 2023-07-12 . Urban Dictionary . en-US.
6. Web site: Schielke. Jeffery. Our Town. Batavia History. City of Batavia. 14 January 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20101017070447/http://www.cityofbatavia.net/content/templates/?a=679. 17 October 2010.
7. Book: Edwards, Jim. Batavia: From the Collection of the Batavia Historical Society. 2000. Arcadia. Chicago, IL. 978-0-7385-0795-8. 21–32. https://books.google.com/books?id=8erEtRI5JZgC&pg=PA21. Edwards, Wynette . City of Energy Entrepreneurs.
8. Web site: Community slogans about agriculture. ePodunk. 14 January 2012.
9. Web site: Pantagraph.com | Sesqui!. https://archive.today/20120912212913/http://www.pantagraph.com/cityguide/sesqui/growth1.php. dead. September 12, 2012.
10. http://www.bloomingtonnormal.com BloomingtonNormal.com
11. Web site: Pantagraph.com | Twin City Guide. https://web.archive.org/web/20090225204033/http://www.pantagraph.com/cityguide/. dead. February 25, 2009.
12. http://www.taglineguru.com/monikerlist.html U.S. City Monikers
13. http://www.dennews.com/opinion/column-i-am-eiu-and-started-chuckvegas-too/article_1bb3fe00-3ea1-11e2-84ee-001a4bcf6878.html/ Daily Eastern News
14. http://www.chesterill.com/ City of Chester website
15. Berman, John and Meewalla, Shani. When A Tattoo Goes Wrong, A Trend Develops. ABC News, April 7, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
16. Chicago Tribune https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-chicago-chiraq-20130714-story.html
17. Web site: Chicago Park District website. https://archive.today/20060320102026/http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/news.detail/object_id/92e74b0f-f44f-4a8c-94dc-7b565cc2cd20.cfm. dead. March 20, 2006.
18. Web site: Chicago Nicknames. Chicago Public Library. 8 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20080211235116/http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/chinicknames.html. 11 February 2008.
19. Web site: 030909-MotorcoachMap . 2009-02-23 . 2007-09-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927210753/http://www.enjoyillinois.com/brochures/05MotorMap.pdf . dead .
20. "The city had been built, inexplicably, in the middle of a mud flat, which necessitated raising portions of the downtown area on stilts above the sloshy earth, giving Chicago the first of many nicknames: Mud City.", Paddy whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster, Thomas J. English, HarperCollins (c) 2005,, pp73-74, https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060590031/paddy-whacked
21. Web site: The World Capital of Whatever. The New York Times. Harold . Faber. 1993-09-12. 2018-11-15.
22. http://www.crystallake.org City of Crystal Lake
23. "Central Park skateboarders back to getting the boot – Mayor chases out those bored with their Fairview Park facility." Mike Frazier, Decatur Herald & Review, Saturday, November 11, 2006, p.A1
24. "ADM lunch puts soy in spotlight – The company spreads the word about food's health benefits." Paul Brinkmann, Decatur Herald & Review, Saturday, November 20, 1999 p.A1
25. Web site: The "City of Destiny" - Des Plaines . chicago.cooperatornews.com.
26. http://www.cityofelgin.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=13163 City of Elgin Sustainability Action Plan
27. http://www.cityofelgin.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=2586 Elgin Fire Department 2006 Annual Report
28. Web site: A Brief History of Evanston . 2009-01-08 . Evanston Public Library .
29. Web site: City of Freeport, Illinois. City of Freeport, Illinois. 29 April 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120304172648/http://www.ci.freeport.il.us/visitors/. 4 March 2012. dead.
30. http://www.epodunk.com/slogans/birds.html Claims to Fame - Birds
31. Web site: History of DuPage County : Lombard. www.dupagehistory.org. 2016-12-29. October 21, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071021112218/http://www.dupagehistory.org/dupage_roots/Lombard_14.htm. dead.
32. http://www.huntley.il.us Village of Huntley
33. http://www.jackhammerbaseball.com/kidszone/champ/ Joliet JackHammers website
34. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/676.html Joliet, Illinois
35. Tony Graf, Joliet’s oldest school building is a limestone classic, The Herald-News (published by Chicago Sun-Times), October 9, 2011
36. Illinois Farmers' Institute (1919), Annual Report and Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting Held in Joliet, Illinois, February 19, 20, and 21, 1919. "Joliet is known as 'stone city,' 'prison city,' 'steel city,' and city of 'snap and progress.'
37. http://www.jths.org/community_alumni/alumni_default/central_history.aspx Joliet Central High School History
38. https://web.archive.org/web/20160403150319/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-149426028.html Joliet out to escape past ties to prison: City says its image is no longer behind bars
39. http://www.epodunk.com/slogans/animals.html Claims to Fame - Animals
40. http://www.nuhs.edu/show.asp?durki=283 Lombard Info
41. http://www.taglineguru.com/sloganvilleawards.html Sloganville Awards
42. Louis Miglio, "A Geography Alumnus Fondly Remembers," Glacial Deposits, Volume 29, 2000-2001, Illinois State University, pages 5-7
43. http://www.epodunk.com/slogans/food.html Claims to Fame - Food
44. Web site: Village of Maywood, Illinois - Village of Maywood, IL. maywood-il.org.
45. Web site: Southern Illinois . 2009-02-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021133/http://www.ozarkvacation.com/illinois/?ar=73 . 2007-09-28 . dead .
46. http://www.cityofmonmouth.com/ City of Monmouth, IL
47. http://www.pumpkincapital.com/index.php?section=39 Morton Pumpkin Festival Information
48. Web site: Urban Dictionary: naperthrill . 2023-07-12 . Urban Dictionary . en-US.
49. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/squirrels.html White Squirrel Wars
50. Web site: Maine South High School. south.maine207.org.
51. http://www.panaillinois.com/ City of Pana Illinois
52. Barry Popik, Smoky City, barrypopik.com website, March 27, 2005
53. http://www.epodunk.com/slogans/plants.html Claims to Fame - Plants
54. http://www.wgem.com/News/index.php?ID=11814 Another Gem City Landing?
55. News: Willhite. Lindsey. Rugged 'Rantucky' tough starting spot for Illini. 14 January 2012. Daily Herald. 4 August 2008.
56. http://www.ci.rockford.il.us/about/index.cfm About Rockford
57. Web site: This is Why Rockford is Called Screw City. 967 The Eagle.
58. Web site: Letter to the editor: Lisbon doesn't need a blight ordinance. Staff Writer. The State Journal-Register.
59. http://www.ci.st-charles.il.us/edd/PDFs/trafficcounts.pdf St. Charles, Illinois Traffic Counts
60. http://www.thomsonil.com/ Thomson Chamber of Commerce
61. http://www.warrenville.il.us/ City of Warrenville website
62. http://www.wilmington-il.com/history/ The History of Wilmington, IL