Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Potomac, IL

Potomac is a village in Vermilion County in east-central Illinois, part of the Danville Metropolitan Statistical Area and located about 18 miles northwest of Danville, the county seat.

Potomac was originally named Marysville, after the wives of its two founders, John Smith and Isaac Meneley, who started businesses there around 1840.

On May 13, 1871, a post office was established under the name Potomac, most likely after the Potomac River, and the town later changed its name to match.

Potomac is known for its artesian wells - one well once spouted an eight-inch stream of water 32 feet into the air until the 1930s, and three wells still flow in open areas around the village today, including one in West Side Park.

The village's high school teams were called the Potomac Artesians, after the wells, until area school consolidation in the mid-1990s; the village is now served by Potomac Community Unit School District 10.

U.S. Route 136, one of the primary east-west highways across Illinois, runs through Potomac, and the village's population peaked at 909 in the 1970 census.

When Interstate 74 opened in the early 1970s, through-traffic bypassed Potomac, and many of its service stations, restaurants, and small downtown businesses rapidly disappeared.

Potomac was struck by a tornado in April 1953 that injured a dozen people, and in the early 1990s a fire destroyed several downtown buildings on the north side of Route 136.

As of the 2020 census, Potomac had 689 people; the 2000 census counted 681 people living in 252 households and 191 families.

The Middle Fork of the Vermilion River passes just south of the village, which covers only 0.49 square miles.