Gridley is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,456 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village of Gridley was founded in 1869 and named after General Asahel Gridley, a noted early Republican, land investor, political backer and client of Abraham Lincoln, and a descendant of a Colonel Gridley who served at the Battle of Lexington.