I've stopped for lunch many times, going undercover at the fundamentalist Hen House, where Bible verses line the walls, the placemats are praying hands, and there are racks of Christian books for sale at the checkout counter.
The food is mediocre, old-fashioned "meat and two," but the thrill of "feasting with panthers," knowing that at any moment, a fundamentalist might realize that you're gay and start screaming, makes up for it.
So, I started wondering, what else is there in Mahomet besides the Hen House? And where did it get its distinctive name?
1. The Name Mahomet
An old and derogatory word for "Mohammed," the sort of thing you might read in a Medieval romance: "Then the Mahometans descended like wolves on the fold, their scimitars raised..."
No one knows how it got the name. It was originally "Middletown." The most likely theories are "The Mahomet Lodge," an order of Freemasons; Mahomet Weyonomon, a chief of the Mohecan tribe; and pure chance, after the post office discovered two "Middletowns" in the state.
Apparently there was a Middle Eastern fad in the late 19th century. Several towns in the U.S. are named Mecca, Medina, Bagdad, Cairo, Palestine, and even Arab.
But Mahomet is the only one that is actually Islamophobic. It must be decidedly embarrassing.
Or not. The residents don't seem to care, or maybe they care the wrong way.
At a 2015 Board of Trustees meeting, a member complained that, as a Christian, he was deeply offended by the name, a "slap in God's face" and violation of the First Commandment ("Thou shalt have no other gods but me.") He was told that it would cost too much to change the name.
In 2017, the Mahomet Daily had an article about a Mahomet woman who was working to bring her two sisters over from Pakistan.
There's an Islamic Center only ten miles away, in Champaign.
2. What else is there?
Not much.
Churches: Lots. Nazarene, Baptist, Church of Christ, generic fundamentalist (Mahomet Christian Center, Community Free Church, Grace Church, Christian Church, Church of the Cross).
I wonder how they feel about living in Champaign County. It's named after the region in France, not the beverage, but still, alcohol is alcohol.
Museums: Museum of the Grand Prairie, with three permanent exhibits: "The Grand Prairie Story,""Blacksmithing in the Grand Prairie," and "Champaign County's Lincoln."
Buildings on the National Register of Historic Places: None. There is a historic bridge, built in 1893.
Colleges: none, but the University of Illinois is nearby.
High Schools: Mahomet-Seymour High School, home of the fighting Bulldogs, offers a Gay-Straight Alliance.
But I couldn't find any beefcake photos. This one popped up when I searched on Mahomet Wrestling, but it seems to be a guy on the Falcons team, not the Bulldogs.
And a fully-clothed wrestler. At least he's from Mahomet.
Mahomet-Seymour High doesn't have a swim team, so I don't know where these swimmers are from.
