Welcome to Empire ...

Empire is located in McLean County<1>.

The location of Empire has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Empire, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1883.

Empire is 750 feet [229 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Empire lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Websites for Empire ...

Chamber of Commerce:   www.mcleancochamber.org/

Although we don't have any websites that are specific to Empire, the following might be of interest:

Communities Also Named Empire ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 34 communities that are also named Empire - they are located in Alabama, Arkansas, California (4), Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri (2), Montana, Nebraska, Nevada (3), North Carolina (2), Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and West Virginia (3).

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Empire.

Communities near Empire ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Empire.

• Bloomington
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomington
  • Bloomington is located in McLean County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 77,132 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Bloomington <4>
• Mahomet
  (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mahomet have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mahomet
  • Mahomet is located in Champaign County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,968 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mahomet <4>
• Clinton
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clinton have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clinton
  • Clinton is located in De Witt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 6,733 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clinton <4>
• Le Roy
  (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Le Roy have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Le Roy
  • Le Roy is located in McLean County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,498 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Le Roy <4>
• Heyworth
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Heyworth have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heyworth
  • Heyworth is located in McLean County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,869 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Heyworth <4>
• Fisher
  (18 miles [29 km] to the east)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fisher have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
  • Fisher is located in Champaign County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,911 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fisher <4>
• Farmer City
  (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Farmer City have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmer City
  • Farmer City is located in De Witt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,906 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Farmer City <4>
• Colfax
  (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Colfax have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colfax
  • Colfax is located in McLean County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,009 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Colfax <4>
• Downs
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Downs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downs
  • Downs is located in McLean County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 949 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Downs <4>
• Mansfield
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mansfield have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mansfield
  • Mansfield is located in Piatt County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 939 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mansfield <4>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Empire. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Empire.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Empire. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Empire.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Empire. See our Newspapers Page for Empire.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Empire ...

Looking for more information about Empire? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Empire, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Empire.

Adding Empire to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Empire in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Empire was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Empire post office opened in 1883.

We also found Empire in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Empire.

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Empire. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for McLean County: www.mclean.gov/

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov