Chenoa, Illinois

City: Chenoa

County: McLean

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.7333, -88.7167

The town of Chenoa was laid out in 1856 by Matthew T. Scott, Jr., at the location where it was projected that the Peoria and Oquawka Railroad would intersect with the existing Chicago, Alton, and St. Louis Railroad. Scott promoted this location as being advantageous for the shipment of crops. A U.S. Post Office was established at Chenoa in May of 1856. A competing town called East Chenoa was platted nearby; the two towns combined in 1864, and this merged town was incorporated as Chenoa five years later. The town is located ten miles southwest of Pontiac.

Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 67; Jacob L. Hasbrouck, History of McLean County Illinois (Topeka, KS: Historical, 1924), 1:91-93; The Weekly Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), 7 May 1856, 3:2; “An Act to Legalize the Incorporation of the Town of Chenoa, McLean County, Illinois, and for Other Purposes,” 16 February 1865, Private Laws of Illinois (1865), 2:430-31; “An Act to Incorporate the Town of Chenoa,” 15 April 1869, Private Laws of Illinois (1869), 3:655-66.