1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Macomb

MACOMB, a city and the county-seat of McDonough county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the W. part of the state, about 60 m. S.W. of Peoria. Pop. (1890), 4052; (1900), 5375 (232 foreign-born); (1910), 5774. Macomb is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Macomb & Western Illinois railways. The city is the seat of the Western Illinois state normal school (opened in 1902), and has a Carnegie library and a city park. Clay is found in the vicinity, and there are manufactures of pottery, bricks, &c. The city was founded in 1830 as the county-seat of McDonough county, and was called Washington by the settlers, but the charter of incorporation, also granted in 1830, gave it the present name in honour of General Alexander Macomb. Macomb was first chartered as a city in 1856.