Bureau Junction, usually called Bureau, is a village in Bureau County, Illinois, United States. The population was 322 at the 2010 census.[3] The village name is shown as both “Bureau Junction”[4] and “Bureau” on federal maps,[5] and is commonly called “Bureau”, including by phone companies[6] and the United States Post Office.[7] It is part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area. Bureau Junction was the point where the Rock Island Line railroad’s branch line to Peoria split. Track west and south of Bureau is operated by Iowa Interstate, while tracks east to Chicago were formerly operated by CSX but are currently leased to Iowa Interstate.

The village is named for Michel or Pierre Bureau. Their original surname was probably Belleau, but local aboriginals may have had difficulty pronouncing the “l” sound. One or both of the brothers ran a trading post near where Big Bureau Creek empties into the Illinois River from 1776 until 1780 or 1790.[8][9] A man named Buero, of mixed French and Native American descent, and possibly a descendant of one of the earlier Bureau brothers, was operating in this area as a fur trader in 1821.[10]