Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Sciota Sciota, IL

Sciota is a village in northern McDonough County, Illinois, about 10 miles northwest of Macomb, the county seat, and just north of Illinois Route 9.

Sciota was laid out in September 1867 by William B. Clarke and named Clarkesville in his honor, but because another Illinois town was already called Clarksville, its post office opened on February 7, 1868, under the completely different name of Amicus.

Tired of the town and its post office having different names, residents renamed both to Sciota - after Sciota Township, which Ohio settlers had named for the Scioto River back home - and the Illinois General Assembly approved the change on March 29, 1869.

Sciota grew fast after its founding: a Christian church was erected in 1869, a Baptist church in 1871, and a school building in 1872.

In 1878 Sciota was the largest grain market in all of McDonough County, dealing mainly in corn and oats shipped out by rail.

Sciota once had its own newspaper, The Sciota Sentinel, published by H. C. Harl around 1895 - but only a single issue, dated October 17, 1895, is known to survive.

Sciota's population peaked at 349 in the 1880 census and has dwindled for over a century; the 2020 census counted just 38 residents, down from 61 in 2010, when the village had 26 households.

Sciota is home to West Prairie Community Unit School District 103; West Prairie High School was located in Sciota before relocating to Colchester, and local students attend North Elementary in nearby Good Hope.

Sciota is still served by the Keokuk Junction Railway, and in 2001 the village received a $400,000 state grant to connect to Good Hope's water supply and build a water tower - though it still has no sanitary sewer system, so residents rely on septic systems.

The village covers just 0.31 square miles surrounded by prime Mollisol farmland now planted mostly in corn and soybeans.