STREATOR

city, La Salle county, Illinois, U.S., on the Vermilion (locally Vermillion) River. The village was laid out in 1868 after the discovery of coal in the vicinity. It was first called Hardscrabble, from the difficult climb up from the river, and was then known as Unionville after the American Civil War. It was renamed in 1872 for Worthy Streator, president of the Vermillion Coal Company, which opened mines there. When the mines were exhausted, the community turned to manufacturing brick, clay pipe, and glass, drawing on local deposits of clay, shale, and silica sand. The city's economy is still primarily industrial but is augmented by agriculture (corn and soybeans). Inc. village, 1870; city, 1882. Pop. (1991 est.) 14,258.