24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Chester, IL

Chester is a city on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois and has been the county seat of Randolph County since 1844.

Chester was founded in 1819 by an Ohio land company and named for Chester, England; it was incorporated in 1855 and developed as a trading center for a wheat, corn, and soybean farming region.

The 2020 census counted 6,814 people in Chester, down from 8,586 in 2010, a swing driven largely by how many inmates at the city's prison are counted as residents; about 74% of its homes are owner-occupied.

Chester bills itself as the 'Home of Popeye' because it is the birthplace of cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar, who created Popeye the Sailor Man, first seen on January 17, 1929, in the comic strip Thimble Theatre.

A six-foot bronze statue of Popeye, dedicated in 1977, stands in the Elzie C. Segar Memorial Park overlooking the river, and the city's Popeye Character Trail adds statues of Olive Oyl, Wimpy, and other Segar characters modeled on real Chester residents.

Chester celebrates its cartoon heritage with an annual Popeye Picnic and is home to Spinach Can Collectibles, the world's only store dedicated entirely to Popeye memorabilia and the seat of the official Popeye fan club.

The Menard Correctional Center, established in 1878 on the river bluffs at Chester, is Illinois's largest maximum-security prison and its second-oldest prison, and it is one of the city's major employers.

Chester is also home to the Chester Mental Health Center, the state's maximum-security forensic mental health facility, and to Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation, a large private-label food manufacturer.

The Chester Bridge carries traffic across the Mississippi River from Chester to Perryville in Perry County, Missouri.

Shadrach Bond, the first governor of Illinois, is buried in Chester's Evergreen Cemetery, and in November 1803 Lewis and Clark camped overnight near what is now Chester during their expedition.