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09/25/2025

City of Mount Sterling Long Range Strategic Plan

Make No Little Plans

In the quiet heart of western Illinois lies Mount Sterling, a small town with a mighty spirit. With just over 2,000 residents, the city faces familiar rural challenges: limited staffing, housing shortages, and economic pressures. But through visionary leadership and deep-rooted partnerships, Mount Sterling flipped the script, turning constraints into catalysts for creativity.

The Mighty Mount Sterling Strategic Plan lays out a bold yet practical framework: revitalizing Uptown through infill and adaptive reuse, expanding housing options with ADUs, code updates, and a property inventory database, and promoting the city as a destination through storytelling, branding, events, and public art. A detailed implementation matrix and shared tracker link each strategy to specific leads, actions, and funding sources.

The plan’s greatest strength lies in its authenticity. It was shaped by more than 1,200 community interactions, youth-led ideation, business interviews, and creative engagement including hikes around Lake Mount Sterling and historical site visits. Steering committee members took action before the plan was even complete, launching a housing committee and building partnerships.

Implementation is already in motion. A new bar and grill opened in response to local demand, façade and infill programs are advancing, and the City and Action Brown County are rolling out fresh branding across banners, digital media, and a Main Street statue.

This project offers a replicable model for how small towns can plan big, act locally, and build a resilient future rooted in identity, innovation, and inclusion. Mount Sterling is not just planning for what’s next. It’s making it happen.

Click here to view the plan.

Submitted by: Teska Associates

Funding agency: City of Mount Sterling, Tracy Family Foundation, Action Brown County

Supporting organizations: City of Mount Sterling, Tracy Family Foundation, Action Brown County, All Together, Small Nation

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