Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Sterling, IL

Sterling sits on the north bank of the Rock River in Whiteside County, directly across the river from its twin city, Rock Falls.

The first settlers arrived at the Rock River rapids in 1835, and the City of Sterling was officially established in 1857, growing up around sawmills and gristmills powered by the river.

Sterling briefly served as the seat of Whiteside County: the county seat was moved to Sterling in 1837 before relocating to Morrison in 1846.

The first railroad lines reached Sterling in 1856, and river power plus rail transport turned the city into a manufacturing powerhouse that earned it the nickname 'Hardware Capital of the World.'

Sterling was home to Northwestern Steel and Wire Company, one of the region's great steel mills, whose works along the Rock River anchored the local economy for much of the 20th century.

Sterling is the headquarters of the Wahl Clipper Corporation, the grooming-products maker founded by Leo J. Wahl, who patented an electromagnetic hair clipper with the motor in the hand in 1919.

Sterling's population was 15,370 in the 2010 census and 14,764 in the 2020 census, and Census Bureau survey estimates count about 6,600 households, roughly 65 percent of them owner-occupied.

Sterling High School enrolls about 1,050 students and offers dual-enrollment courses through Sauk Valley Community College, the region's two-year college.

The grand Paul W. Dillon Home, the mansion of a Northwestern Steel and Wire president, still stands in a Sterling neighborhood and is preserved as a piece of the city's industrial-era history.

The Sterling Park District runs a marina on the Rock River, an indoor pool and a dog park, and boaters and paddlers use the river all summer.