Decatur

/di kay"teuhr/, n.

1. Stephen, 1779-1820, U.S. naval officer.

2. a city in central Illinois. 94,081.

3. a city in N Alabama. 42,002.

4. a city in N Georgia, near Atlanta. 18,404.

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City (pop., 2000: 81,860), central Illinois, U.S. Situated on the Sangamon River east of Springfield, it was founded in 1829.

In 1860 it was the site of Abraham Lincoln's first endorsement by a party convention for the presidential nomination. It is a commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural region. Industries include the processing of corn and soybeans and the manufacture of tractors and other vehicles.

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▪ Alabama, United States

      city, seat (1891) of Morgan county, northern Alabama, U.S. It lies along the Tennessee River about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Huntsville. Andrew Jackson (Jackson, Andrew) gave land grants in the area to soldiers who marched with him to the Battle of New Orleans (New Orleans, Battle of) (January 8, 1815), and in 1820 the city was named to honour Stephen Decatur (Decatur, Stephen), the American naval hero of the War of 1812. In 1836 it became the eastern terminus of the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad, the first U.S. railroad west of the Appalachian Mountains. During the American Civil War the city was the site of the Battle of Decatur (October 1864), when Confederates under General John B. Hood (Hood, John B) were defeated in an attempt to cross the Tennessee River by Union forces under General Robert S. Granger, and was almost destroyed. It was gradually rebuilt during the Reconstruction period. The present city was formed by the consolidation in 1927 of Decatur and Albany (formerly New Decatur, founded 1886). The city's growth was stimulated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provided power to the area and connected it by inland waterways to the Gulf of Mexico (Mexico, Gulf of).

      Industry is now the basis of the city's economy, with poultry processing and the manufacture of automotive parts, refrigerators, booster rocket cores, synthetic fibres, and copper tubing being most important. Tourism is also a factor; the city has two historic districts with many preserved buildings. Cook's Natural Science Museum includes exhibits of local wildlife. Wheeler Lake, an impoundment of the Tennessee River, provides recreational activities; Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge is nearby, and William B. Bankhead National Forest is to the southwest. The Alabama Jubilee Hot-Air Balloon Festival is held annually in May. Decatur is the site of Calhoun Community College (1965). Inc. 1826. Pop. (1990) city, 48,761; Decatur MSA, 131,556; (2000) city, 53,929; Decatur MSA, 145,867.

▪ Georgia, United States

      city, seat (1823) of DeKalb county, northwestern Georgia, U.S. It is an eastern suburb of Atlanta. Named for Stephen Decatur (Decatur, Stephen), the American naval hero of the War of 1812, it was originally a trading centre for small farmers, and stone quarrying was an early activity in the surrounding area. Nearby Stone Mountain, which rises to more than 800 feet (245 metres) in an American Civil War memorial state park, constitutes the largest mass of exposed granite in North America. Carved on the side of the mountain are likenesses of the Confederate generals Robert E. Lee (Lee, Robert E.) and Thomas (“Stonewall”) Jackson (Jackson, Thomas Jonathan) and of the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis (Davis, Jefferson). Reportedly the largest high-relief sculpture in the world, the carved surface is 3 acres (1.2 hectares) in area, 400 feet (122 metres) above the ground and recessed 42 feet (13 metres) into the mountain. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum (Borglum, Gutzon), famous for his later carving of four U.S. presidents at Mount Rushmore (Mount Rushmore National Memorial), completed the head of Lee in 1924 but then resigned after a dispute with his patrons. Little progress was made on the project until 1964, when work resumed under Walker Kirkland Hancock. The carved mountain was finally dedicated in 1970.

      With the decline of local agriculture, the city underwent residential growth, and industry assumed some importance in zoned areas. Agnes Scott College for women (1889), Columbia Theological Seminary (1828 [moved to Decatur 1927]; Presbyterian), and Georgia Perimeter (junior) College (1964) are in the city. The Benjamin Swanton House (c. 1825), the city's oldest structure, and two 19th-century log cabins are maintained as historic sites. Inc. town, 1823; city, 1922. Pop. (2000) 18,147; (2003 est.) 17,859.

▪ Illinois, United States

      city, seat (1829) of Macon county, central Illinois, U.S. It lies along a bend in the Sangamon River (there dammed to form Lake Decatur), about halfway between Springfield and Champaign. First settled in 1820, the town was founded in 1829 and was named for the American naval hero Stephen Decatur (Decatur, Stephen). Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln, Abraham), migrating with his family from Indiana, lived for a year (1830–31) near the city; Lincoln's first political speech was delivered in what is now downtown Lincoln Square, and he was formally endorsed as a candidate for the presidency of the United States by the Republican state convention in Decatur (May 9, 1860). Decatur's economy was originally based on agriculture, but the city grew as an industrial centre with the arrival of the railroad in 1854. The first post of the Grand Army of the Republic (an American Civil War veterans' organization) was established in Decatur (April 6, 1866). In 1920 George Halas (Halas, George) founded the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and helped found the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League). In 1922 the city became a centre of soybean production when the first major commercial production plant was opened there. With the establishment of other soybean processing plants, the city became known as the “Soybean Capital of the World.”

      Decatur is an important commercial, agricultural, and distribution centre, with large corn (maize) and soybean processing plants and varied industries, including the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, iron castings, control valves, automotive parts, glass, electric motors and generators, and pharmaceuticals. Decatur is the seat of Millikin University (1901) and Richland Community College (1971). The city has a children's museum, and a decorative arts museum is on Millikin's campus. The restored log courthouse where Abraham Lincoln often transacted business is preserved on the grounds of Decatur's Macon County Museum Complex; Lincoln Trail Homestead State Memorial, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Decatur, commemorates the site where Lincoln lived. Lake Decatur is a popular area for fishing and boating. Spitler Woods State Natural Area is southeast of the city. Inc. 1839. Pop. (1990) city, 83,885; Decatur MSA, 117,206; (2000) city, 81,860; Decatur MSA, 114,706.

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