Jefferson County, Illinois

Jefferson County, Illinois
Jefferson County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 37,113. The county seat is Mount Vernon.
Jefferson County contains the Mount Vernon, Illinois micropolitan area. It is located in the southern portion known locally as "Little Egypt".
The western border of the county adjoins the Greater St. Louis consolidated metropolitan statistical area, the Metro-East region, and the St. Louis commuter region and market and viewing area.
History
The first settler in Jefferson County is believed to have been Andrew Moore. In 1810, he settled near the southeast corner of the county, near where the Goshen Road emerges from the forest of Hamilton County into what is now known as Moore's Prairie. Moore arrived from the Goshen Settlement, near Edwardsville. His migration was therefore retrograde, from the west toward the interior of the State.
In 1814, Andrew Moore departed with his eight-year-old son for Jordan's settlement, a journey from which he never returned. A skull that was believed to have been Moore's was found several years later about two miles from his cabin. Jordan's Settlement, also called Jordan's Fort, was southeast of modern Thompsonville, Illinois, about twenty miles south of Moore's cabin. This episode occurred during the War of 1812 when many of the Indian tribes were allied with the British.
In 1816, Carter Wilkey, Daniel Crenshaw and Robert Cook settled in Moore's Prairie. Daniel Crenshaw moved into Moore's cabin. This settlement is believed to be the first permanent settlement in the county.
Jefferson County was organized in 1819, out of parts of White, Edwards and Franklin Counties. It was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, principal draftsman of the Northwest Ordinance, among other things. The baseline along the northern border of the County crosses the Third Principal Meridian at the northwest corner of the county.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.2%) is water.
Climate and weather
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Mount Vernon have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.
Major highways
Interstate 57
Interstate 64
U.S. Highway 51
Illinois Route 15
Illinois Route 37
Illinois Route 142
Illinois Route 148
Transit
South Central Transit
List of intercity bus stops in Illinois
Adjacent counties
Marion County - north
Wayne County - northeast
Hamilton County - southeast
Franklin County - south
Perry County - southwest
Washington County - west
Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 38,827 people, 15,365 households, and 10,140 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 16,954 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.4% white, 8.4% black or African American, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.8% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.1% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 24.3% were German, 15.8% were Irish, 13.6% were English, and 10.2% were American.
Of the 15,365 households, 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.0% were non-families, and 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.92. The median age was 40.6 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $41,161 and the median income for a family was $51,262. Males had a median income of $41,193 versus $29,645 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,370. About 12.4% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.8% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or over.
Agencies
In 2015 the county police department announced that the words "In God We Trust" will be on police squad cars.
Jeff Bullard is the current Sheriff of Jefferson County.
Politics
Jefferson is politically a fairly typical “anti-Yankee” Southern Illinois county. Opposition to the “Yankee” Republican Party and that party's Civil War meant that Jefferson County voted solidly Democratic until Theodore Roosevelt carried the county in his 1904 landslide. It was to again vote Republican in the greater landslides of 1920 and 1928, but otherwise was firmly Democratic until World War II.
Following the New Deal, Jefferson became something of a bellwether county, voting for every winning Presidential candidate between 1928 and 2004 except in the Catholicism-influenced 1960 election, and that of 1988 which was heavily influenced by a major Midwestern drought. Disagreement with the Democratic Party's liberal views on social issues since the 1990s has caused a powerful swing to the GOP in the past quarter-century: as is typical of the Upland South, Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton did far worse than any previous Democrat.
Communities
Cities
Mount Vernon
Nason
Villages
Belle Rive
Bluford
Bonnie
Dix
Ina
Waltonville
Woodlawn
Census-designated place
Opdyke
Other unincorporated communities
Bakerville
Boyd
Camp Ground
Dareville
Divide
Drivers
Harmony
Roaches
Scheller
Texico
Townships
Jefferson County is divided into sixteen townships:
Bald Hill
Blissville
Casner
Dodds
Elk Prairie
Farrington
Field
Grand Prairie
McClellan
Moore's Prairie
Mt. Vernon
Pendleton
Rome
Shiloh
Spring Garden
Webber
Education
School districts include:
K-12:
Bluford Unit School District 318
Hamilton County Community Unit School District 10
Sesser-Valier Community Unit School District 196
Waltonville Community Unit School District 1
Wayne City Community Unit School District 100
Woodlawn Unit District 209
Secondary:
Benton Consolidated High School District 103
Centralia High School District 200
Mount Vernon Township High School District 201
Nashville Community High School District 99 - Primary school can go to Woodlawn School
Salem Community High School District 600
Elementary:
Ashley Community Consolidated School District 15 - Can attend secondary school in Woodlawn
Bethel School District 82
Centralia School District 135
Ewing Northern Community Consolidated District 115
Farrington Community Consolidated School District 99 - Can attend secondary school at Bluford
Field Community Consolidated School District 3
Grand Prairie Community Consolidated School District 6 - Can attend secondary school in Woodlawn
Kell Consolidated School District 2
McClellan Community Consolidated School District 12
Mount Vernon School District 80 - Can attend elementary school at Bluford and Woodlawn
Opdyke-Belle Rive Community Consolidated School District 5 - Can attend secondary school at Bluford
Spring Garden Community Consolidated School District 178
Rome Community Consolidated School District 2 - Can attend secondary school in Woodlawn
Summersville School District 79
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Illinois
References
Illinois counties
1819 establishments in Illinois
Populated places established in 1819
Jefferson County, Illinois
Mount Vernon, Illinois micropolitan area