Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Spring Valley, IL

Spring Valley is a city situated on the Illinois River in Bureau County, Illinois, and is part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Spring Valley was founded in 1884 in the heart of the coal fields of northern Illinois for the express purpose of mining coal, an enterprise of settler Henry J. Miller and his son-in-law Charles J. Devlin, who acquired the mineral rights to 5,000 acres and purchased 500 acres on which to build the town.

Spring Valley grew so rapidly that it was nicknamed the 'Magic City': in less than four years, by 1888, a Chicago & North Western railroad line had been laid, four mines had been sunk, and the town had 3,000 people.

The city lies in the valley of Spring Creek, and the springs in the hills on either side still feed the creek and a pond at the foot of the old Number One slag dump on East St. Paul Street, a site now preserved as Coal Mine Park.

By 1900, 26 different ethnic groups were represented among the miners working in Spring Valley's coal mines, and the city was a strongly union town.

On August 4-5, 1895, the city was the scene of the Spring Valley race riot, when white immigrant miners rioted against African American coal miners and their families, forcing them to flee to nearby Princeton.

Spring Valley remained a boisterous mining town until competition from cheaper southern Illinois coal fields forced its mines to close in late 1927.

Spring Valley's post office opened in 1886, two years after the town was founded.

The 2020 census counted 5,582 people in Spring Valley, up slightly from 5,558 in 2010.

In the 2000 census, Spring Valley had 5,398 residents living in 2,158 households.