I hadn’t heard of Mendota before March, when I discovered a reason to visit. The town is about 90 miles southwest of Chicago and maybe a 30-minute drive north of Starved Rock State Park. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Mendota’s population at 6,894 as of 2025, a 2.3 percent decrease since 2020 . Mendota hosts a […] The post House of a million records appeared first on Chicago Reader. ...read more read less