Lincoln, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lincoln is a town in Logan County, Illinois, United States. It is the only town in the United States named for and by Abraham Lincoln before he became president. He practiced law there from 1847-1859. First settled in the 1830s, Lincoln is home to two colleges and two prisons. The two colleges are Lincoln College and Lincoln Christian College and Seminary.

The population was 15,369 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Logan County^GR6.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 Notable people from Lincoln
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Lincoln is located on I-55 (formerly Route 66), between Bloomington and Springfield (40°8′60″N, 89°22′3″W). In addition Illinois Route 10 and Illinois Route 121 run into the city and Illinois Route 121 ends in Lincoln.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.3 km² (5.9 mi²), none of which is covered by water.

Lincoln is on the Amtrak line between St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois. Salt Creek (Sangamon River Tributary) and the Edward R. Madigan State Fish and Wildlife Area are nearby.

[edit] History

The town was officially named on August 27, 1853, in an unusual ceremony. Lincoln, having assisted with the platting of the town and worked for the railroad which led to its founding, was asked to participate in a naming ceremony for the town. During the proceedings, Lincoln chose a ripe watermelon from a nearby wagon, broke it open, and squeezed the juice on the grounds, as an informal rite of baptism.

Langston Hughes spent some of his early years in Lincoln. Later on, he was to write to his eighth-grade teacher in Lincoln, telling her his writing career began there in the eighth grade, when he was elected class poet.

A community history Web site of Lincoln, Illinois, was named "Best Web Site of the Year" in 2004 by the Illinois State Historical Society: http://www.geocities.com/findinglincolnillinois/

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 15,369 people, 5,965 households, and 3,692 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,002.4/km² (2,596.6/mi²). There were 6,391 housing units at an average density of 416.8/km² (1,079.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.79% White, 2.82% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.89% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.45% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.19% of the population.

There were 5,965 households out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.89.

The town's population is spread out with 21.6% under the age of 18, 13.8% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $34,435, and the median income for a family was $45,171. Males had a median income of $33,596 versus $22,500 for females. The per-capita income for the town is $17,207. About 8.5% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.9% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.