Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Hoopeston, IL

Hoopeston is a city in Grant Township, Vermilion County, in east-central Illinois, located at the crossing of Illinois Routes 1 and 9 near the county's northern edge.

Hoopeston proudly calls itself the "Sweetcorn Capital of the World."

Hoopeston was laid out in 1871 and named for Thomas Hoopes, one of the men who offered land for the crossing of two railroads, the Lafayette, Bloomington and Western and the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes; it was organized in 1874 and incorporated in 1877.

The 2020 census counted 4,915 people in Hoopeston, down from the city's peak of 6,606 residents in 1960.

Hoopeston had 2,109 households in the 2020 census, with a median age of 40.9 years.

Every September, Hoopeston holds its National Sweet Corn Festival, running from the Thursday before Labor Day through Labor Day in McFerren Park and across town.

Alongside the festival, Hoopeston hosts the Miss National Sweetheart pageant, created in 1941 for runners-up from Miss America state pageants; the winner receives a pendant shaped like an ear of corn, and five winners since 1980 have gone on to win Miss America itself.

Hoopeston's economy was built on canning: the Illinois Canning Company opened in 1875 and the Hoopeston Canning Company followed in 1878, later becoming part of Stokely-Van Camp.

During World War II, Hoopeston held one of several Illinois camps for German prisoners of war, and many of the prisoners worked picking crops for the local canneries.

Greer College was founded in Hoopeston in 1890 with a gift of $40,000 and 500 acres from John Greer, and his name lives on in the city's John Greer Grade School.