Marion, Illinois

Marion is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States.

Its county seat is Marion.

Today Marion serves as the largest retail trade center in Southern Illinois with its central location along Interstate 57 and Illinois Route 13.

Other principal cities include Alton, Centralia, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Effingham, O'Fallon, Harrisburg, Herrin, Mt. Vernon, Marion, and Carbondale, where the main campus of Southern Illinois University is located.

It is home to the Illinois Star Centre mall and the Southern Illinois Miners baseball team. The newest major attraction is Rent One Park, which opened in May 2007, home to the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners.

The Southern Illinois Miners are a professional baseball team based in Marion, Illinois.

It was dubbed the “Hub of the Universe” by former mayor the late Robert L. Butler.

Robert L. Butler (January 23, 1927 – April 22, 2019) served as the Mayor of Marion, Illinois from May 1963 until he resigned on January 31, 2018 for health reasons.

It is home to the Illinois Star Centre mall and the Southern Illinois Miners baseball team.

Illinois Star Centre, formerly Illinois Centre Mall, was an enclosed shopping mall in Marion, Illinois, United States.

Marion is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois, United States.

The other somewhat significant concentration of population in Southern Illinois is the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area centered on Carbondale and Marion, a two-county area that is home to 123,272 residents.

Carbondale is 17 mi to the west, and Harrisburg is 22 mi to the east.

In August 1853, Daniel Harmon Brush, John Asgill Conner, and Dr. William Richart bought a 360 acre parcel of land between two proposed railroad station sites (Makanda and De Soto) and two county seats (Murphysboro and Marion).

Carbondale is 17 mi to the west, and Harrisburg is 22 mi to the east.

In 1917 there were plans to extend the line westward to Marion and Carbondale to connect to the Coal Belt Co. line, and then run it towards St. Louis.

Marion is in central Williamson County, with a narrow strip of city limits extending south beyond Creal Springs to the valley of Sugar Creek in Johnson County.

This old road most likely ran from Marion through Creal Springs before ascending to the summit of the Shawnee Hills.

Federal facilities in the city include the Marion Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Main Street and the United States Penitentiary, Marion located southwest of the city.

USP Marion in Southern Illinois is approximately 9 mi south of the city of Marion, Illinois, 300 mi south of Chicago, and 120 mi southeast of St. Louis, Missouri.

The newest major attraction is Rent One Park, which opened in May 2007, home to the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners.

Rent One Park is a stadium in Marion, Illinois that was completed in 2007.

For a name, they chose Marion to honor American Revolutionary War hero General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion.

The municipalities of Marion in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Marion Center, Pennsylvania are named for Francis Marion.

Federal facilities in the city include the Marion Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Main Street and the United States Penitentiary, Marion located southwest of the city.

Marion Veterans Affairs Medical Center, also known as Marion Veterans Administration Hospital, is a Veterans Affairs hospital in Marion, Illinois.

It connects with Interstate 24 a few miles south of town.

It runs diagonally from I-57, 10 mi south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75.

Marion is also the home of the 1st and only all female roller derby league in Southern Illinois, the Southern Illinois Roller Girls.

The Southern Illinois Roller Girls (SIRG, or So Ill Roller Girls) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Marion, Illinois.

Major attractions that fill Marion hotels include Southern Illinois Miners' games at Rent One Park, events at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, The Southern Illinois Roller Girls bouts at the Williamson Co Pavilion, the two dozen wineries within a 45 mi radius of the city including those on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and the Southern Illinois Wine Trail, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge adjacent to the city, Lake of Egypt immediately to the south and the Shawnee National Forest and various state parks that stretch along the Shawnee Hills from river to river.

It is located six miles (10 km) south of Marion, Illinois and covers 2,300 acres (9 km²) with 90 mi of shoreline.

Other industrial areas available for development are the Airport Industrial Park between the Williamson County Regional Airport and Illinois Route 148 immediately northwest of the city, and the undeveloped county-owned Williamson County Industrial Park six miles (10 km) east of the city one mile north of Illinois Route 13.

Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois (Williamson County Regional Airport) is five miles west of Marion, in Williamson County, Illinois.

Developed industrial parks include the REDCO Industrial Park adjacent to the airport and home to three Aisin plants: AISIN Mfg.

The company also operates in Marion, Illinois.

The Daily Republican, a newspaper, is based in Marion.

The Daily Republican is an American daily newspaper published Mondays through Fridays in Marion, Illinois.

Local service from those lines is provided by the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad headquartered in Marion.

The Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railway (formerly American Rail Heritage, Ltd. d/b/a Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad Company) is a Class III common carrier shortline railroad that operates in the cities of Marion and Herrin in the Southern Illinois region.

Conrad Keene Allen (born 1968 in Marion, Illinois) is an American inventor and Exploration Geologist.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has started widening Route 13 to six lanes from I-57 west to Carterville.

Carterville is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, United States, geographically situated between Carbondale and Marion.

Marion's location, at the crossroads of Illinois Route 13 and Interstate 57 make it a prime candidate for future growth.

The first section of Interstate 57 to be completed was a 30 mi stretch from Dongola north to Marion, Illinois.

Major attractions that fill Marion hotels include Southern Illinois Miners' games at Rent One Park, events at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, The Southern Illinois Roller Girls bouts at the Williamson Co Pavilion, the two dozen wineries within a 45 mi radius of the city including those on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and the Southern Illinois Wine Trail, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge adjacent to the city, Lake of Egypt immediately to the south and the Shawnee National Forest and various state parks that stretch along the Shawnee Hills from river to river.

Cities in or near the area are Carbondale, Illinois, Marion, Illinois, and Cairo, Illinois.

Other industrial areas available for development are the Airport Industrial Park between the Williamson County Regional Airport and Illinois Route 148 immediately northwest of the city, and the undeveloped county-owned Williamson County Industrial Park six miles (10 km) east of the city one mile north of Illinois Route 13. Marion's location, at the crossroads of Illinois Route 13 and Interstate 57 make it a prime candidate for future growth.