Carlinville, Illinois

Template:Geobox Carlinville is a city in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 Federal Census, the population was 5,685. It is the county seat of Macoupin County.Template:GR

Carlinville is also the home of Blackburn College, a small college affiliated with the Presbyterian church.

History

Carlinville has long been a site of Illinois history. Carlinville has played host to many presidential hopefuls via campaign stops at a time in American history when railway routes produced many visits by politicians. Perhaps the largest and most important hallmark of Carlinville's history is its courthouse. Built in 1870 and designed by famous state capitol building architect Elijah E. Myers, the construction of Carlinville's courthouse produced its candidacy for the location of the State Capitol. Locally, it is known as "The Million Dollar Courthouse" due to its cost overruns at the time it was built.

In the early 1900s Carlinville became the site of a great many Sears Catalog Homes. An entire neighborhood was constructed of the homes and was funded, in 1918, by Standard Oil of Indiana for its mineworkers in Carlinville (at a cost of approximately 1 million dollars US). Today 152 of the original 156 homes still exist, the largest single repository of Sears Catalog Homes in the United States.

Further, many notable people have come from Carlinville. Among them, the American entomologist Charles Robertson carried out what is still the single most intensive study of flower-visiting insects of a single locality, culminating in a 221-page book published in 1928 under the title Flowers and Insects. From among the specimens he collected in the process of doing this study, he named over 100 new species of bees and wasps, one of which - the andrenid bee Andrena lauracea, described in 1897 - is known only from two female specimens, both collected on spicebush in Carlinville. Amazingly, the two specimens were collected some 90 years apart, the second being collected in 1985, long after the species was presumed to be extinct.

Also among the cadre of notable Carlinvillians, are several artists, academics, and numerous decorated military veterans. A pre-1936 routing of historic U.S. Route 66 runs through the Carlinville, now known as Illinois Route 4.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 5,685 people, 2,125 households, and 1,393 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,390 people per square mile (922/km²). There were 2,289 housing units at an average density of 962.3/sq mi (371.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.01% White, 1.50% African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.23% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.76% of the population.

There were 2,125 households, of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.3% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.4% under the age of 18, 12.8% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 19.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,259, and the median income for a family was $39,693. Males had a median income of $35,137 versus $21,286 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,663. About 9.0% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Illinois Route 4 directly passes through Carlinville. Interstate 55 is also within 12 miles (19 km) of the city. Illinois Route 108 Passes through Carlinville from Interstate 55 to the East, to Kampsville, Illinois, where it crosses the Illinois River on a free, state-operated ferry. Alongside a developed road network, Carlinville is also served directly by five daily Amtrak trains, offering easy access to nearby urban centers of Springfield, St. Louis and Chicago.

Freight service is provided by the Union Pacific Railroad, formerly the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, Illinois Central Gulf, Chicago, Missouri and Western, Southern Pacific Chicago - St. Louis Railways. The Illinois Terminal Railroad passed down the middle of West Street in Carlinville, and was still operating Freight Service to a nearby grain elevator into the 1970's. A trestle crossing Goat Hollow south of Carlinville burned, thus severing line, which was abandoned. A small portion of the line is used by Monterey Coal Co.mine to connect with the former Chicago and Northwestern L & M District, serving coal-fired power plants.

External links

• Official website

• Diary of Carlinville Resident in 1890's