Located in the heart of the rich Midwest Illinois farmland, Bushnell Illinois has ample manufacturing and services to make it a perfect blend of agriculture and industry. Bushnell's diverse business district and area events, such as the Cornerstone Music Festival, make it a great place to live, work and shop.

Present manufacturing operations here are about evenly split between food/feed processing and metal working. The industries prefer Bushnell because of the work ethic of the community. In addition, Bushnell is served by the Burlington Northern Railroad, running north and south, and the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad, running east and west. Ample space exists in the city's 58 acre Industrial Park located at the South edge of the city. A new water system has a great deal of excess capacity. Housing is very inexpensive, by any standards, yet the city offers a complete line of retail stores, nice parks, excellent schools and a fine library.

The city's manufacturers are divided between food/feed processors and metal working firms. The following employment figures are current as of January 1998.

Archer Daniels Midland produces Alpo dog food and Baco components, employing approximately 25 people. Wayne feed manufactures livestock feeds, with approximately 24 employees. Kitchen Cooked Chips now employs 28 persons in the production of potato chips, popcorn, and cheese curls.

Vaughan and Bushnell, largest employer in the community with 260 employees, is the largest hammer manufacturer in the U.S. Norforge has 105 employees and manufactures forgings and slack adjusters for the brake systems of the trucking industry. Midwest Control Products produces linkages and forgings for heavy industrial, agricultural and trucking equipment. It has 170 employees. Bushnell Illinois Tank Company/Foresight Products Inc., two related companies, make agricultural tanks and bins and fireplace vacuum buckets and employ about 40 people.

Burlington Northern and TP&W Railroads intersect within the city limits. Approximately 40 trains travel through the city each day, providing an excellent link to distant market in all directions.

Truck transportation is readily available. The Interstate Commerce Commission lists numerous regulated motor freight carriers serving West Central Illinois, providing service on a contract or common carrier basis. Approximately 92% of the city's 20.2 mile network of streets are paved, and 75% of the streets have adjacent sidewalks. The direct link of two state highways provides easy access to all parts of the community and distant markets. Interstate 74 access is available at Galesburg, 30 miles away.

Amtrak passenger service is available three times a day each way between Galesburg and Chicago, and once a day each way between Macomb and Chicago.

Galesburg, Peoria and the Quad Cities offer commercial air service. Macomb Airport, 10 miles away, provides private air service.

The Bushnell Recreation and Cultural Center is better known by locals as the "Rec Center." The current building was completed in 1976 and for the last 22 years Bushnell and its surrounding neighborhoods have used this Center for innumerable activities with approximately 23,000 people using it annually.

The roots of Bushnell's library go back to 1896 when members of the Woman's Club pooled their respective book collections at one member's home for all to share. By 1903, the growing collection was moved to a rental location downtown, and all non-club members could pay $.50 per year for library privileges. In 1912, the club asked the city to take over the 1,000 volume collection as a public library. A librarian was appointed, and tax money was raised to rent a building in the downtown business district. In 1920, the Library Board purchased an existing downtown building that was to house the library for over 45 years.

Bushnell Illinois...a great place to visit and spend a few moments of your life.......

The Bushnell Water/Wastewater Operations-

The Bushnell Wastewater treatment facility is a .5MGD Facility. The Wastewater Facility is a dual lagoon which contains a two-cell aerated lagoon with a rock filter. The West Lagoon contains a Bar Rack along with a 3-Pump Dry Well Lift Station. The Water treatment facility contains 3 deep wells the run approximately 1500ft. each. The water is treated using a G.E. Osmonics Reverse Osmosis process, then passes over an aerator to remove hydrogen sulfide gas. The water flows from the aerator to a 200,000 gallon ground storage tank and is then pumped to a new elevated storage tower using three high service pumps. Currently our new 300,000 gallon elevated storage tower was completed in May of 2004 and serving the needs of Bushnell's growing population.

Click Here to Visit the Bushnell Chamber of Commerce's Website