Biohazard Cleanup Near Wexford Hills Downs, IL

Downs is a village in McLean County in central Illinois, part of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area.

The community traces its roots to 1829, when McLean County settlers established a small settlement called Delta in an area that had served as a trading post for the Kickapoo people.

When the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway was built in 1869, buildings were dismantled and moved south to be closer to the tracks, and the town was platted in 1870 as Priceville, honoring landowner John Price.

In 1902 the town's name was changed to Downs because postal clerks kept confusing Priceville with the similarly named Illinois town of Princeville; the name honors Lawson Downs, one of the area's pioneer settlers.

Downs grew quickly as a Bloomington-area suburb, rising from 776 residents in 2000 to 1,005 in 2010 and 1,201 at the 2020 census.

Downs is a young community: the median age at the 2020 census was 36.8 years, and about a third of residents were under the age of 18.

Most children in Downs attend the Tri-Valley schools of District #3, whose offices are located in the village on Washington Street.

Kickapoo Creek flows through the northwest side of the village, which covers about three square miles of McLean County farmland southeast of Bloomington.