Dixon (Ill.)

Dixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The population was 15,274 as of the 2020 census. The city is named after founder John Dixon, who operated a rope ferry service across the Rock River, which runs through the city. The Illinois General Assembly designated Dixon as "Petunia Capital of Illinois" in 1999 and "The Catfish Capital of Illinois" in 2009. Dixon was the boyhood home of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The city is also the site of the Lincoln Monument State Memorial, marking the spot where Abraham Lincoln joined the Illinois militia at Fort Dixon in 1832 during the Black Hawk War. The memorial is located on the west side of Dixon's main north–south street, Galena Avenue (U.S. Route 52, also Illinois Route 26), north of the Rock River. The city is also the site of the Dixon Bridge Disaster of 1873, the worst road bridge disaster in American history. A marker for the disaster stands near the Lincoln Statue, on the north bank of the river.