Zion is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States census, the population was 24,655.
History
The city was founded in 1900 by John Alexander Dowie, a Scots-Australian evangelical minister and faith healer who had migrated to the United States in 1888. By 1890, he had settled in Chicago, where he built a faith healing business that included a mail order component, and he had also attracted thousands of followers.
He bought land north of Chicago to found Zion, where he personally owned all of the land and most businesses. The city was named after Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
Dowie also founded the Zion Tabernacle of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, which was the only church in town. The structure was built in the early 1900s and was burned down in 1937, following several decades of tumultuous rule by Dowie's successor, Wilbur Glenn Voliva.
The former city seal was the subject of a 1990 Federal Court case, because it featured a crown and scepter, a dove, a cross and the words "God Reigns". The founder of Zion and designer of the city seal, John Alexander Dowie, intended for these to be Christian symbols and added them "for the purpose of the extension of the Kingdom of God upon earth ... where God shall rule in every department of family, industry, commercial, educational, ecclesiastical and political life". The court ruled the city could not use these religious symbols in its seals and emblems. While the Christian symbolism was removed, the phrase "In God We Trust" could be used on the new city seal since it was already acceptable religious language in the public arena.
Geography
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Zion has a total area of , of which (or 99.99%) is land and (or 0.01%) is water.
thumb|Location within Lake County