Knox County, Illinois

Knox County, Illinois
Knox County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 49,967. Its county seat is Galesburg.
Knox County comprises the Galesburg, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Knox County was named in honor of Henry Knox, the first US Secretary of War.
The first "Knox County" in what today is Illinois was unrelated to the modern incarnation. In 1790, the land of the Indiana Territory that was to become Illinois was divided into two counties: St. Clair and Knox. The latter included land in what was to become Indiana. When Knox County, Indiana, was formed from this portion of the county in 1809, the Illinois portions were subdivided into counties that were given other names.
The modern Knox County, Illinois, was organized in 1825, from Fulton County, itself a portion of the original St. Clair County.
Like its neighbor to the south, Fulton County, for its Spoon River Drive, Knox County is also known for a similar scenic drive fall festival the first two weekends in October, the Knox County Drive.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water.
Climate and weather
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Galesburg have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1982 and a record high of was recorded in July 1983. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in July.
Public Transit
Galesburg station
Burlington Trailways
Galesburg Transit
List of intercity bus stops in Illinois
Major highways
Interstate 74
U.S. Highway 34
U.S. Highway 150
Illinois Route 8
Illinois Route 17
Illinois Route 41
Illinois Route 78
Illinois Route 97
Illinois Route 164
Illinois Route 116
Illinois Route 167
Illinois Route 180
Adjacent counties
Mercer County - northwest
Henry County - north
Stark County - east
Peoria County - southeast
Fulton County - south
Warren County - west
Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 52,919 people, 21,535 households, and 13,324 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 24,077 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 87.5% white, 7.2% black or African American, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.9% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.1% were German, 14.9% were Irish, 11.7% were English, 11.6% were Swedish, and 8.0% were American.
Of the 21,535 households, 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.1% were non-families, and 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.84. The median age was 42.0 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $39,545 and the median income for a family was $51,740. Males had a median income of $42,067 versus $25,380 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,908. About 10.9% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.7% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over.
Communities
Cities
Abingdon
Galesburg
Knoxville
Oneida
Villages
Altona
East Galesburg
Henderson
London Mills (mostly in Fulton County)
Maquon
Rio
St. Augustine
Victoria
Wataga
Williamsfield
Yates City
Census-designated places
Gilson
Oak Run
Other unincorporated communities
Appleton
Centerville
Columbia Heights
Dahinda
Delong
Douglas
Elba Center
Henderson Grove
Hermon
Ontario
Rapatee
Saluda
Soperville
Trenton Corners
Truro
Uniontown
Townships
Knox County is divided into twenty-one townships:
Cedar
Chestnut
Copley
Elba
Galesburg
Galesburg City
Haw Creek
Henderson
Indian Point
Knox
Lynn
Maquon
Ontario
Orange
Persifer
Rio
Salem
Sparta
Truro
Victoria
Walnut Grove
Politics
Knox County's political history is typical of Yankee-settled Northern Illinois. It leaned Whig during its early elections – although giving a plurality to Franklin Pierce in 1852 – and become powerfully Republican following that party's formation. Although Knox did support Progressive Theodore Roosevelt against conservative incumbent President William Howard Taft in 1912, it was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 landslide before Knox County again gave the Democratic Party so much as a plurality, and it did not give a Democratic absolute majority until Lyndon B. Johnson gained such against the anti-Yankee, Southern-leaning Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Since then, Knox County gradually trended Democratic for the following four decades, so that Michael Dukakis in his losing 1988 campaign was able to carry the county by the same margin as Johnson had done in 1964. During the 1990s and 2000s, Knox was a solidly Democratic county, voting Democratic by at least nine percentage points in every election from 1992 to 2012. The 2016 election, in the shadow of high unemployment in the “Rust Belt” saw a swing of over twenty percentage points to Donald Trump, who became the first Republican victor in the county since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Illinois
References
Further reading
Charles C. Chapman and Co., History of Knox County, Illinois: Together with Sketches of the Cities, Villages and Townships; Record of its Volunteers in the Late War; Educational, Religious, Civil and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons and Biographical Sketches of the Subscribers; History of Illinois, Abstracts of the State Laws, Etc., Etc., Etc. Chicago: Blakely, Brown and Marsh, Printers, 1878.
Fred R. Jelliff, Annals of Knox County: Commemorating Centennial of Admission of Illinois as State of the Union in 1818. Galesburg, IL: Republican Register Printing, 1918.
Portrait and Biographical Album of Knox County, Illinois, Containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County, Together with Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States: Also Containing a History of the County from Its Earliest Settlement Up to the Present Time. Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1886.
External links
"Foxie's Knox Co., IL AHGP"
Illinois counties
1825 establishments in Illinois
Populated places established in 1825
Galesburg, Illinois micropolitan area