RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> McLean County >> Le Roy >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Le Roy, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Le Roy and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Le Roy:
    • 40.348054, -88.760542
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Le Roy
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected McLean County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McLean County
    • Since Le Roy is near De Witt County and also Piatt County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for De Witt County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Piatt County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Le Roy

Communities Also Named Le Roy ...

We found nine communities that are also named Le Roy.

Within Illinois, the name Le Roy is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Burke County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Le Roy [Burke County].
    • Iowa
      • Decatur County
      • This Le Roy is located in Decatur County and lies 255 miles [410.4 km]<2> to the west of the Le Roy that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Decatur County community of Le Roy.
    • Kansas
      • Coffey County
      • This Le Roy is located in Coffey County and lies 399 miles [642.1 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Le Roy that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coffey County community of Le Roy.
    • Michigan
      • Osceola County
      • This Le Roy is located in Osceola County and lies 305 miles [490.8 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Le Roy that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Osceola County community of Le Roy.
    • Minnesota
      • Mower County
      • This Le Roy is located in Mower County and lies 291 miles [468.3 km]<2> to the northwest of the Le Roy that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mower County community of Le Roy.
    • Nebraska
      • Adams County
      • This community is historic<1> and although located in Adams County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Le Roy.
    • New York
      • Genesee County
      • This Le Roy is located in Genesee County and lies 584 miles [939.9 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Le Roy that is located in McLean County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Genesee County community of Le Roy.
    • West Virginia
      • Jackson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Le Roy [Jackson County].
    • Wyoming
      • Uinta County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming community of Le Roy [Uinta County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Le Roy ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Arrowsmith
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Downs
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Empire
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Empire is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
  • Farmer City
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Harris
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Harris is located in Piatt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris
  • Holder
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Holder is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holder
  • Littleville ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Littleville is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littleville
  • Randolph
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Randolph is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Randolph
  • Shamrock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Shamrock is located in McLean County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Weedman
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Weedman is located in De Witt County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weedman

How Far From Le Roy to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Le Roy to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Le Roy and extending to:

  • Bloomington, which is the Seat of McLean County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Le Roy to Bloomington, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 61 miles [98.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 631 miles [1,015.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,298 miles [10,135.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,035 miles [11,321.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,917 miles [7,913.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Le Roy, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Le Roy) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Le Roy could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Le Roy to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Le Roy. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.3481, Longitude: -88.7605    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.174 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.96 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.541 degrees.