Salem, Illinois is the boyhood home of Miracle Whip Salad Dressing, William Jennings Bryan, Thomas Scopes of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, the Salem IL Wildcats football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, and the Gutzon Borglum Original Statue of William Jennings Bryan that was commissioned for Washington, D.C.  We offer Shopping, Dining, Site Seeing and other activities with a charm only found in Southern Illinois.  Located on Interstate 57 at exit 116, Salem, Illinois is only 25 minutes north of Interstate 64 and Mt. Vernon, 45 minutes south of Interstate 70 and Effingham, and only 18 miles from Centralia, home of the BalloonFest.  Salem is at the crossroads of US Route 50 and Illinois Route 37.  Famous for the Oil Boom in the early 1900's and the GI Bill of Rights, we have hosted dignitaries and politicians like Abraham Lincoln, who coined the phrase Tippe Canoe and Tyler Too on the steps of our Courthouse.  Known as the Gateway of Little Egypt, Salem was once the home of the Gypsy King and Queen.