Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Beaverville, IL

Beaverville is a village in northeastern Iroquois County, Illinois, about 16 miles northeast of Watseka, the county seat, and just 7 miles west of the Indiana border.

Beaverville was founded in 1851 as St. Marie by 32 families from the Montreal area of Canada, mostly newlyweds or single people, who traveled up the St. Lawrence River and across the Great Lakes in search of prairie farmland.

The St. Marie settlement was led by Francis Besse, who became a general merchant, and its founding families carried French-Canadian names such as Fortin, Dionne, Boudreau, Benoit, Lafond, and at least six Arseneau families.

In 1905 the village name was changed from St. Marie to Beaverville after residents realized another Illinois town was already named St. Mary, and the new name was inspired by the many beavers that once lived around Beaver Lake, just across the border in Indiana.

Beaverville is home to St. Mary's Catholic Church, built in 1909 and known as the "Prairie Cathedral" or the "Cathedral of the Cornfields"; it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its red clay tile roof can be seen from several miles away.

The 2020 census counted 306 people in Beaverville, living in 173 households and 101 families, within a village area of only about 0.28 square miles.

Beaverville's population peaked at 442 residents in the 1970 census and has declined in most decades since.