Naples, Illinois

City: Naples

County: Scott

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 39.7500, -90.6000

The proprietors of the town of Naples, on the Illinois River, advertised lots for sale as early as 1824. The town was originally located within the boundaries of Morgan County, where, in 1825, the newly-formed town of Jacksonville was chosen in preference to it as county seat. Naples received a U.S. Post Office in 1830. In 1839, the portion of Morgan County where Naples was located was split off to form Scott County. In 1851, Murray McConnel was authorized to establish a ferry from Naples and the town of Columbus in Scott County across the Illinois River to Pike County.

Edwardsville Spectator (IL), 9 March 1824, 4:5; Charles M. Eames, comp., Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville (Jacksonville, IL: Daily Journal Steam Job Printing, 1885), 41; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1989), 448; “An Act Establishing a Ferry Across the Illinois River at Naples, in Scott County,” 13 February 1851, Private Laws of Illinois (1851), 125.