Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Dixon, IL

Dixon is the county seat of Lee County in northern Illinois, sitting on the Rock River and named for founder John Dixon, who bought Joseph Ogee's ferry operation in the spring of 1830 and brought his family there that April.

Dixon is the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States — his family moved to Dixon in 1920 when he was nine years old, and their house at 816 South Hennepin Avenue is preserved as the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home.

Reagan attended Dixon High School, and as a teenager he worked as a lifeguard at Lowell Park on the Rock River, where over seven summers he was credited with saving 77 swimmers from drowning.

The Illinois General Assembly designated Dixon the "Petunia Capital of Illinois" in 1999, and the city plants thousands of pink petunias along its main streets each year for its annual summer Petunia Festival.

Dixon holds a second state title as well — the legislature also named it the "Catfish Capital of Illinois" in 2009.

Dixon's Lincoln Monument State Memorial marks the spot where a young Abraham Lincoln joined the Illinois militia at Fort Dixon in 1832 during the Black Hawk War.

On May 4, 1873, Dixon's Truesdell Bridge collapsed while a crowd watched a river baptism below, killing 46 people — still considered the worst road bridge disaster in American history.

Dixon had a population of 15,274 in the 2020 census, making it the largest city in Lee County.

Dixon had 5,781 households in the 2020 census, with about 37.6% of them made up of people living alone.

Sauk Valley Community College, a public community college established in 1966, has its main campus on Illinois Route 2 in Dixon and serves a six-county district.