Arthur.
That's the end of the post.
Just kidding. Well, if I had written this post 30 years ago, that pretty much would have been it.
For the longest time, Illinois was sort of a one-and-done Amish outpost. There has been a thriving, sprawling Amish settlement for a long time around the towns of Arthur and Arcolas in east-central Illinois. But that was about it. Over the past 30 years, however, there have been Amish settlements that have cropped up elsewhere in the state.
📜 The Largest and Oldest Amish Community in Illinois: Arthur
Approximately 30 Amish church districts are spread through the pancake flat farmfields outside of Arthur and Arcola, with an estimated 5000 Amish in the area.
I've seen estimates as low as 3500, as high as 600, so we'll split the difference and say approximately 5000 Amish. Plus, there are some offshoot plain Mennonite churches in the area. Actually, I wrote this back in 2018 after visiting Arthur and get it directly, so I would consider this description most accurate:
The Amish in and around Arthur number approximately 4000 spread out among 22 church districts, but all of them pretty much fellowship and worship with one another, so you don't see some of the deep splits here that you do elsewhere.
The Amish of Arthur are very traditional and conventional. Some churches are more progressive, some more conservative, so you have a good balance here. The Amish of Arthur are very entrepreneurial, so there are plenty of Amish home-based businesses to explore. One could spend days doing that.
My First Visit To Arthur
The first time I ever visited Arthur, Illinois was when I was a 21-year-old journalist on assignment for AAA's Home & Away Magazine. I was going to stay for a few days and do a really nice story about Arthur's Amish community, Illinois's largest. Mission accomplished. And back in those days it was the only Amish community in Illinois, now there are at least a half dozen.
Several hours after I left my hometown in Ohio, headed for Arthur, I realized I had forgotten my suitcase which had my camera packed away. That was a big problem. Man, I look back and I was one resourceful kid. What I did next was to think of some way to get my suitcase to me quickly and cheaply. I thought of a Greyhound bus. So I called Greyhound from a pay phone to see if my suitcase could buy a ticket from Ohio to Mattoon, Illinois where I was staying. They said that was possible, so my parents dropped off my suitcase at the Greyhound station, paid $15, and several hours after I arrived in Mattoon, my suitcase did too. When I think back to that, I was a really resourceful kid. I mean, orchestrating that would be tough today even with a smartphone to look information up on, but to coordinate that all from a pay phone? Yeah, I was good at that sort of stuff.
I don't remember a ton about my stay in Arthur and I can't find the article I wrote. I do remember that Mattoon - about 15 miles from Arthur - seemed like a rough little town and that Arthur was a pretty conservative Amish community. During that visit I made some good friends, learned all about Arthur, and really loved my stay there... but then I left and never returned. Until 2018.
And in some ways, Arthur hadn't changed a bit, in some ways it had.
✔️ Why The Amish Like Illinois
I predict that there will be more and more Amish communities in Illinois. I'm not sure why it has taken so long for the Amish popular to really grow in the state, but I suspect it's that sprawling Chicago occupies so much of the state's imagination that many Amish have just written off the whole state. But there are many reasons why the Amish would find the state appealing:
Proxmity: super close to many other Amish settlements in surrounding states
Climate: classic Midwestern climate
Land: Plentiful and relatively cheap land the farther from Chicago that one gets.
🗺️ Other Illinois Amish Communities
It used to be that the Amish of Arthur were pretty much it for Illinois, but now there are communities sprinkled throughout the state. Here are some others in no particular order:
Flat Rock: Home to about 100 Amish people and to our Amish Cook columnist, Gloria Yoder! Located in the southeastern part of state near Robinson. Flat Rock is a New Order Amish community, which means they use horse and buggy, but are a bit more progressive on other technologies.
Ava: This is also a small New Order Amish community, this one in southwest Illinois, opposite the Mississippi from Chester, Missouri. Here is a super article that was in a southern Illinois publication about the Amish of Ava. An excerpt from the article quotes an Amish man as saying: the differences between Amish communities and the outside world were not that great just a few generations ago. But, as time has gone on, the world has sped up and the Amish have tried their best not to. He knows this sets him and his family apart, but said this is kind of the point. He said it is his church’s belief that they are called to be a “peculiar people.”
Carbondale: There is a small New Order Amish settlement just outside of Carbondale, Illinois, about 30 miles east of Ava.
Tampico
Macomb
🏪 Amish Businesses in Illinois
Where to even start? There are so many. So, I'll list several and I'll keep adding to it, but keep one thing in mind: this is list is not exhaustive, these are Amish businesses that I - or our Amish365 readers - can personally vouch for. I know there are a ton of Amish businesses in the state, but here are a few of our favorites. If you have one you think should added, shoot us a note!
Beachy's Bulk Foods: This is one of the premiere Amish bulk food and bakeries in the state, located in the Amish settlement of Arthur. You can read more about my visit to Beachy's.
Roselen's Coffee Shop: Some refer to this as an "Amish Starbucks" in Arthur. But you can pick up your latte and homemade scones at this Amish-owned coffeehouse with Amish baristas. Read more about Roselen's.
Villa's Country Store: In Flat Rock, this is a classic Amish deli and bulk food store. I love their homemade pizzas and plenty of other items completely from scratch.
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