Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Staunton, IL

Staunton owes its unusual spelling to a clerical error - the town was meant to be named Stanton, after a settler who donated land for a public square, but its incorporation papers came back from Washington, D.C. misspelled as Staunton, apparently confused with Staunton, Virginia, and the name stuck.

John Wood became the first settler in what is now downtown Staunton in 1817, and the village was incorporated in 1859 with a schoolhouse, a general store, a doctor's office and a mill already in place.

Staunton grew rapidly after the railroad and a coal mine arrived in the 1860s, drawing Irish, German and Italian immigrant miners, and by 1910 its 5,049 residents made it the largest city in Macoupin County at that time.

Staunton officially became a city in 1891 after its population passed 2,200, and its newspaper, the Staunton Star-Times, has been publishing since 1878.

Two different alignments of the original U.S. Route 66 - the 1926-1930 route and the 1930-1940 route - passed through Staunton, making it one of the few Illinois towns touched by both early paths of the Mother Road before Interstate 55 replaced it.

Staunton is the second-largest city in Macoupin County, behind only the county seat of Carlinville, and the 2020 census counted 5,054 residents.

Henry's Rabbit Ranch, a quirky Route 66 attraction on the old highway in Staunton, celebrates both real pet rabbits and Volkswagen Rabbit cars, and its row of half-buried cars is a playful parody of the famous Cadillac Ranch in Texas.

Henry's Rabbit Ranch was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2012, and founder Rich Henry ran it as a visitor center and souvenir shop for Route 66 travelers for roughly three decades.

Staunton hosts the Tour de Donut, an annual bicycle race with a twist - riders earn time bonuses for every donut they eat at stops along the course.

The Illinois Traction System interurban railway ran passenger trains through Staunton from 1904 until 1956, linking the coal town to Springfield and St. Louis before the automobile era took over.