Who (or What) Owns The Most Land in Illinois?

It may come as a surprise to you as to who (or what) owns the most land in Illinois, and now I was a little surprised.

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Owning roughly 38,000 acres of land The Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, is the biggest land owner in Illinois. Not a billionaire, or big investors or a celebrity like you would think, but a church. You have to wonder how much land a church needs but with the temples they build I guess you would need some major land to make those grand temples like the one in Nauvoo, Illinois. In total there are about 118 congregations in Illinois.

There are some big landowners in the United States too that now have millions of acres. Why would a family or single person want to acquire all that land? Something straight out of Yellowstone, maybe even with the drama too. And with over 260,000 acres of farmland, Bill gates remain America's largest private land owner. About a month ago we found out that Missouri's largest land owner is a company trying to preserve 153,000 acres of Ozark woodlands and learn from all of the species that call it home.