Jubilee College State Park

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Jubilee College State Park is an Illinois state park located a few miles west of Peoria, Illinois. It contains Jubilee College State Historic Site, a frontier Illinois college active in 1840-1862.

Jubilee College and the frontier community that supported it was founded in 1839 by Episcopal bishop Philander Chase. Earlier in his career Chase had founded Kenyon College in Ohio.

This was one of the earliest educational enterprises in Illinois. After the Bishop's death, the college closed in 1862. In 1933 the college and grounds, then consisting of 93 acres, were presented to the state of Illinois. The site has since been expanded to 3,200 acres and includes the original Chase residence and church.

[edit] Cooperative management

The entire Jubilee College site is owned by the U.S. state of Illinois. The 90-acre college grounds are operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IAPA), and the surrounding 3,100 acres (12.5 km²) of open space are operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR).