Gallatin County, Illinois

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Gallatin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 4,946, making it the third-least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Shawneetown.[1] It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as Little Egypt. Located at the mouth of the Wabash River, Gallatin County, along with neighboring Posey County, Indiana, and Union County, Kentucky form the tri-point of the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area.

History

Salt production served as the state's first major industry in the early 19th century. Saltworks developed first by Native Americans, and the French had settled at the Great Salt Spring on the south side of the Saline River, about five miles downstream from Equality. Beginning in 1803, salt works were also developed at Half Moon Lick, southwest of Equality on the north side of the Saline River. Half Moon Lick is now on private land, but the Great Salt Springs are on public lands in the Shawnee National Forest, about one mile west of the Saline River bridge across Illinois Route 1 on Salt Well Road.[2]

Gallatin County was organized in 1812 from land formerly in Randolph County. It was named for Albert Gallatin,[3] who was then Secretary of the Treasury. The bank at Shawneetown was the first in Illinois. It was originally in the John Marshall House, which has been rebuilt and serves as the museum of the Gallatin County Historical Society. This should not be confused with the State Bank of Illinois building, which is a state historic site a block away in Old Shawneetown

Politics

Although Illinois was legally a free state, an exemption in the Illinois Constitution allowed slavery at the Illinois Salines and other salt springs near Shawneetown in Gallatin County. The slave-operated salines contributed one-third of the new state's yearly revenue.[5][6] The law allowed African slaves to be imported to the site until 1825, when the exemption expired. However, indentured servitude at the springs continued past this point. Salt production continued until 1870, when competition from West Virginia salt mines drove the springs out of business.[7]

As the most culturally Southern of all Illinois counties, Gallatin County was pro-Confederate during the Civil War and even provided a few volunteers to the Confederate Army. It then became solidly Democratic for the next century and a third, voting Republican only in the GOP landslides of 1920, 1952, 1972 and 1980. Even in those four elections, no Republican candidate received more than Richard Nixon’s 53.7 percent in his 3,000-plus-county 1972 triumph.

Since 2000, Gallatin County has followed the same political trajectory as Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia and Appalachian regions of adjacent states, whereby the Democratic Party’s liberal views on social issues have produced dramatic swings to the Republican Party amongst its almost entirely Southern white population.[8] Over the five elections from 2000 to 2016, Gallatin County has seen a swing of 84 percentage points to the Republican Party – an average of 17 percentage points per election – so that Hillary Clinton’s 24.3 percent vote share in 2016 is barely half the worst Democratic percentage from before 2010. However, despite its sharp rightward turn, it followed the wave in 2008 within the state that elected Barack Obama president, who remains the last Democrat to win the county in a presidential election.

In 1994, Gallatin County was the only one in the state to vote for the Democratic candidate for governor. It voted for the Democrat in every gubernatorial election from 1924 to 2006, finally flipping in 2010 and then voting Republican again in 2014 and 2018.

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Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Script error: No such module "convert"., of which Script error: No such module "convert". is land and Script error: No such module "convert". (1.6%) is water.[9]

The Wabash and Ohio rivers join in the northeastern part of the county. The Saline River is a major drainage in the county, and it feeds into the Ohio River.

Climate and weather

Shawneetown, Illinois
Climate chart (explanation)
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3.5
 
 
41
21
 
 
3.7
 
 
47
24
 
 
4.7
 
 
57
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4.8
 
 
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42
 
 
5
 
 
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4.2
 
 
84
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4.2
 
 
87
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3.2
 
 
80
55
 
 
3.2
 
 
70
43
 
 
4.4
 
 
57
34
 
 
4.3
 
 
46
25
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
█ Precipitation totals in inches
Source: The Weather Channel[10]
Metric conversion
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88
 
 
5
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93
 
 
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24
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29
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31
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89
 
 
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82
 
 
27
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82
 
 
21
6
 
 
112
 
 
14
1
 
 
109
 
 
8
−4
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
█ Precipitation totals in mm

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Shawneetown have ranged from a low of Script error: No such module "convert". in January to a high of Script error: No such module "convert". in July, although a record low of Script error: No such module "convert". was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of Script error: No such module "convert". was recorded in August 2007. Average monthly precipitation ranged from Script error: No such module "convert". in October to Script error: No such module "convert". in May.[10]

Transit

Major highways

Adjacent counties

National protected area

Demographics

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Historical population
CensusPop.Template:Sronly%±
18203,155—
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18505,448Script error: No such module "String".%
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194011,414Script error: No such module "String".%
19509,818Script error: No such module "String".%
19607,638Script error: No such module "String".%
19707,418Script error: No such module "String".%
19807,590Script error: No such module "String".%
19906,909Script error: No such module "String".%
20006,445Script error: No such module "String".%
20105,589Script error: No such module "String".%
20204,946Script error: No such module "String".%
2024 (est.)4,690[11]Script error: No such module "String".%
U.S. Decennial Census[12]
1790-1960[13] 1900-1990[14]
1990-2000[15] 2010-2017[16]

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File:USA Gallatin County, Illinois age pyramid.svg
2000 census age pyramid for Gallatin County

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2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 4,946, a median age of 47.3 years, 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18, and 24.7% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.9 males age 18 and over.[17]

The racial makeup of the county was 95.0% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.4% from some other race, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 1.1% of the population.[18]

<0.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.[19]

There were 2,150 households in the county, of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 48.1% were married-couple households, 20.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[17]

There were 2,497 housing units, of which 13.9% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 79.6% were owner-occupied and 20.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 11.8%.[17]

In terms of ancestry, 18.1% were German, 13.6% were Irish, and 14% were English.[20]

The median income for a household in the county was $51,868 and the median income for a family was $65,833.[21]

Racial and ethnic composition

Gallatin County, Illinois – Racial and ethnic composition
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Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 1980[22] Pop 1990[23] Pop 2000[24] Pop 2010[25] Pop 2020[26] % 1980 % 1990 % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 7,504 6,830 6,308 5,427 4,683 98.87% 98.86% 97.87% 97.10% 94.68%
Black or African American alone (NH) 28 42 16 12 25 0.37% 0.61% 0.25% 0.21% 0.51%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 6 10 30 14 5 0.08% 0.14% 0.47% 0.25% 0.10%
Asian alone (NH) 5 11 4 5 23 0.07% 0.16% 0.06% 0.09% 0.47%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) x [27] x [28] 2 0 0 x x 0.03% 0.00% 0.00%
Other race alone (NH) 2 0 0 1 3 0.03% 0.00% 0.00% 0.02% 0.06%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) x [29] x [30] 29 64 154 x x 0.45% 1.15% 3.11%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 45 16 56 66 53 0.59% 0.23% 0.87% 1.18% 1.07%
Total 7,590 6,909 6,445 5,589 4,946 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

Communities

City

Villages

Unincorporated communities

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Townships

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See also

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Jon Musgrave. 2004, Rev. ed. 2005. Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw: The Real Story of the Old Slave House and America's Reverse Underground Railroad. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com. 57-65.
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ White, Jesse. Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties. State of Illinois, March 2010. [1]
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
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  8. ↑ Cohn, Nate; ‘Demographic Shift: Southern Whites’ Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats’, New York Times, April 24, 2014
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  27. ↑ included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
  28. ↑ included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
  29. ↑ not an option in the 1980 Census
  30. ↑ not an option in the 1990 Census

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Further reading

External links

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