The Amish in Illinois: 2024 Guide

The Illinois Amish population was 9,050 people as of 2024, spread across 20 communities. The Amish community at Arthur is by far the largest in Illinois, with well over half the state’s Amish. Other Amish settlements are found across the state, particularly in the south and west regions.

1. The Arthur Amish Community
2. Arthur Amish Stores
3. Visit Arthur Amish Country
4. Other Illinois Amish Communities
5. Historical Illinois Amish Settlements

The Arthur Amish

The Arthur Amish community is the largest and by far the oldest Amish settlement in Illinois. Founded 160 years ago, today the community has population of around 5,600 Amish people. The settlement is centered around Arthur, a small town of around 2,000 souls.

Amish homes are located in both Moultrie and Douglas Counties (the county line bisects the town) as well as in Coles County to the south. Amish homes and farms extend in all directions, as far east as Arcola, towards Sullivan, the seat of Moultrie County in the southwest, and highway 36 to the north.

The Arthur community was founded in 1864, by Amish from communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa (see A History of the Amish, Steven Nolt p 232-3).

The Arthur Amish were not the first Amish community in the Prairie State, however, with two settlements having been founded in the central part of Illinois in the 1830s. But the Arthur community was destined to grow and ultimately survive, while the others eventually disappeared.

The Arthur Amish community has grown to 33 church districts (congregations) as of 2024.

While the Arthur Amish do not face quite the same external population pressures as Amish settlements in the east, farmland is still quite expensive. This has affected occupational choices – with small business and factory work popular. Nonetheless, many Amish at Arthur continue in the dairy farm tradition.

The terrain of the Arthur community is buggy-friendly, generally very flat and with paved roads. Common names in the Arthur community are Miller, Kauffman, Gingerich, and Schrock.  Less-common names seen here include Jess, Otto, Diener, and Rocke.

While agriculture remains fairly common, Amish at Arthur work in a number of other trades. Some work for large overhead door manufacturer C.H.I. and can be seen bicycling to and from work at the local plant. Other Amish in the Arthur community are known for their small business activity, in particular furniture and wood-related enterprises.

Amish Stores & Businesses at Arthur

Arthur is home to a thriving Amish business community, with many Amish operating businesses in wood-related industries.

Lower-end wood businesses are found at Arthur, such as pallet makers.  More frequently seen are higher-end operations producing cabinets and furniture.

These number in the dozens and employ hundreds of Amish males throughout the community. Arthur furniture businesses attract consumer attention from urban areas such as Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis, all within a three-hour drive. Find an Illinois Amish furniture business.

In addition to furniture, a number of other Amish-operated businesses can be found. One Amish family operates a jelly-making and canning business. Another runs a small bookstore catering to the Plain community. Machine, metal, and engine shops are also found throughout the Arthur settlement, as are construction businesses.

Visit the Arthur Amish

As one of the largest Amish communities in the Midwest, Arthur has a fairly developed tourist industry, welcoming visitors from across the region.

The area is also home to the Illinois Amish Heritage Center found at Arcola, which specializes in educating the public about the Amish and Anabaptist peoples. The Center features buildings important to Illinois Amish history, including two of the oldest historic Amish homes in the state, restored and preserved at the Center.

At least one Amish family in the Arthur community hosts non-Amish visitors for meals and overnight stays.

There are many small shops and stores run by the Amish throughout the community, including food and grocery, crafts, dry goods, and even an Amish-run coffee shop. Stopping in to patronize an Amish store is one of the best ways to meet and talk to the Amish.

The Arthur area is pretty easy to get around, and with its rural grid road system, hard to get lost. It can be fun to simply drive through the Amish areas (extending for miles in each direction around the town) and see what stores you come across. They are typically marked by simple signs at the end of Amish lanes.

Rockome Gardens was once a longstanding tourist destination located in the community. Rockome featured “rock gardens” comprised of numerous rock formations and stone fences, as well as a number of other attractions. However, Rockome closed operations in the 2010s.

Other Illinois Amish settlements

While Arthur is by far the largest Amish community in Illinois, there are numerous other small Amish settlements found throughout the Land of Lincoln.

After Arthur, the next oldest Illinois Amish community is located at Mt. Vernon in Jefferson County – founded over 120 years after Arthur, in 1987. Ava in southern Illinois is the site of the state’s second-largest Amish community. But at roughly 500 people, it is still less than 10% the size of the Arthur community.

Another notable community is found at Macomb in McDonough County in western Illinois. This community is more conservative than the Arthur Amish. Along with the community at Opdyke in Jefferson County, this is the third-largest settlement in the state (each have an estimated Amish population of 415 people).

Most other Amish communities in Illinois can be found in the western and southern portions of the state.  Amish are found in Crawford County, home to three settlements, Jackson and Wayne Counties (home to two settlements each), and a number of others.

For a full list of Illinois Amish communities, see “Amish Population in the United States by State, County, and Settlement, 2024” linked at bottom.

Historical Amish settlements in Illinois

A number of Amish settlements which once existed in Illinois no longer do today. A few were of significant size.

The community in Tazewell and Woodford Counties was formed in 1831, in large part by direct immigrants from Lorraine in France. Over the next 20 years, around 130 Amish families moved to the area, and by the early 1850s, five congregations had been formed.

Amish historian David Luthy tells us that at by this time, the Tazewell/Woodford settlement was larger than the Lancaster County settlement. It was also equal to, or larger in size than the community at Holmes County, which had been founded over 20 years before the Tazewell/Woodford community (Settlements that Failed, Luthy pp 75-80).

Eventually Amish in this community were influenced by progressive religious movements which were in the ascendant in America at the time. Amish in the area began to build meetinghouses, typically a key step in the journey from a traditional to progressive alignment.

Many Amish at Tazewell and Woodford Counties eventually formed the “Western District Amish Mennonite Conference” in 1884. Some congregants in this community also joined other movements, including the “Egly Amish” and the “Stuckey Amish” groups.

At the time, many other Amish settlements which were affected by progressive change (such as the Kalona, Iowa Amish, or Elkhart/Lagrange County community in Indiana) formed an Old Order element as well, which kept to traditional practices and beliefs.

Such was not the case with the Tazewell and Woodford County settlement – which is why no Old Order Amish are found today at what was once one of the largest Amish communities in North America.

As a result, Luthy notes that many Amish surnames once found in this community are unseen anywhere among Amish today, such as Yordy, Roggy, Litwiller, and Klopfenstein (Settlements that Failed, Luthy, p. 80-81).

Another Amish community was founded in 1835 in Bureau and Putnam Counties, also in north-central Illinois. In a sense, this community followed a similar progressive path as that of the settlement at Tazewell and Woodford Counties, with member eventually joining the Western District Amish Mennonite Conference mentioned above.

Further failed settlements were found at Prairie Bird in Shelby County (lasting from 1871 to 1884), and Vandalia in Fayette County (1893-1906) (Settlements that Failed, Luthy, pp. 81-91)

Illinois: Not an Amish “Hot Spot”

Illinois is a state with a long history of Amish settlement – and well-established Amish population, seen most obviously in the sizeable Arthur community.

Through the first decade of the 2000s, Illinois consistently saw new Amish communities founded across the state. At least 11 communities were started by Amish, either from in-state or by out-of-state arrivals, in the 2000s.

The community in Saline County, for instance, originates from a Wisconsin Amish settlement. On moving to this area, one of the Amishmen commented to a local newspaper that he hoped they can “blend in here without being too much of a nuisance to anybody”, and expected to enjoy the warmer weather.

However, in recent years, new Amish settlement has nearly stopped. In the past 15 years, only two new Amish communities have been added to the state’s current tally.

The total Illinois Amish population has grown, but it has done so at a slower rate than typical for the Amish. This is likely due to out-migration to other states, with some Illinois communities having ceased to exist since 2010.

This is in contrast to the prior 20-year period, when Illinois was listed as a “High Growth State” by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies for the time span 1991-2010. In that period, the Amish population increased by 133% due in part to in-migration from communities outside the state.

In contrast, over the past 10 years (2015-2024), the Illinois Amish population has grown at a slow pace for Amish – only about a 20% increase in that time span.

For more, see:

• “Amish Population 2024”, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College
• “Amish Population in the United States by State, County, and Settlement, 2024”, Young Center
• “Growth of Amish Settlements and Districts, 2015–2024”, Young Center
• A History of the Amish, Steven Nolt
• The Amish in America: Settlements that Failed, 1840-1960, David Luthy

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