Western Illinois University, Illinois, USA is a public university founded in the year 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Like many other schools of that era it primarily focused on teacher training for the relatively small number of students. The land for setting up the university was donated to the State of Illinois by Macomb's Freemasons. Gradually, it grew and became Western Illinois State Teachers College and finally evolved into a university through expansion in 1957.
Currently, the university offers 65 courses for undergraduates, 19 post graduate courses, 37 masters program, and two undergraduate certificate programs along with 2 programs for doctoral studies. All the courses have good number of enrolments every year and the university has expanded throughout these years with 4 colleges that provide education in 41 academic departments.
1 University Cir, Macomb, IL 61455, United States