Jubilee College State Park is an Illinois state park located 6 miles west of Peoria, Illinois. It contains Jubilee College State Historic Site, a frontier Illinois college active from 1840 to 1862.
Jubilee College, and the frontier community that supported it, was founded in 1839 by Episcopal bishop Philander Chase. Earlier in his career Chase had founded Kenyon College in Ohio.
This was one of the earliest educational enterprises in Illinois. After the Bishop's death, the college closed in 1862. In 1933 the college and grounds, then consisting of 93 acres (38 ha), were presented to the state of Illinois. The site has since been expanded to 3,200 acres (1,295 ha) and includes the original Chase residence and church.
The entire Jubilee College site is still owned by the U.S. state of Illinois. The 90-acre (36 ha) college grounds are operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IAPA), and the surrounding 3,100 acres (1,300 ha) of open space are operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The State of Illinois offers guided tours of the centerpiece of Jubilee College, the restored 1840s building that housed the school's Episcopal chapel, classrooms and dormitory facilities. One wing contains the recreated schoolmaster's office and library, which also features a video theater and museum exhibits about the college.
The Jubilee College site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Though the state park is still open, the historic site was closed November 30, 2008. Jubilee College State Historic Site, as well as 17 other historic sites and state parks, was closed by former Governor Rod Blagojevich to help close Illinois' multi-million dollar budget deficit. The park was reopened by Blagojevich's successor, Pat Quinn, but closed again on October 9, 2009.
Jubilee College State Park contains multi-use trails maintained by volunteer user groups. The trails were originated by equestrians but are shared with hikers and mountain bikers.
Famous quotes containing the words college, state and/or park:
“Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervis in the desert.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The last public hanging in the State took place in 1835 on Prince Hill.... On the fatal day, the victim, a man named Watkins, peering through the iron bars of his cell, and seeing the townfolk scurrying to the place of execution, is said to have remarked, ‘Why is everyone running? Nothing can happen until I get there.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The label of liberalism is hardly a sentence to public igominy: otherwise Bruce Springsteen would still be rehabilitating used Cadillacs in Asbury Park and Jane Fonda, for all we know, would be just another overweight housewife.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)