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.^[1] The county seat is Mount Vernon.^[2] 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.

Jefferson County
County
Jefferson County Courthouse in Mount Vernon
Location within the U.S. state of Illinois
Illinois's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 38°18′N 88°55′W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
Founded	1819
Named after	Thomas Jefferson
Seat	Mount Vernon
Largest city	Mount Vernon
Area
• Total	584 sq mi (1,510 km2)
• Land	571 sq mi (1,480 km2)
• Water	13 sq mi (30 km2)  2.2%
Population  (2020)
• Total	37,113
• Estimate  (2023)	36,320
• Density	64/sq mi (25/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	12th
Website	www.jeffersoncountyillinois.com

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.^[3] The baseline along the northern border of the County crosses the Third Principal Meridian at the northwest corner of the county.

• 
  Jefferson County between the time of its creation and 1821
• 
  Jefferson County between 1821 and 1823
• 
  Jefferson County in 1823, reduced to its current size

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 584 square miles (1,510 km²), of which 571 square miles (1,480 km²) is land and 13 square miles (34 km²) (2.2%) is water.^[4]

Climate and weather

Mount Vernon, Illinois
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.5     37 19     2.7     43 23     4     54 33     4.4     65 43     4.6     75 53     3.6     84 62     3.6     88 66     3.3     86 64     3.1     79 56     2.9     68 43     4.4     54 34     3.2     42 24 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches Source: The Weather Channel[5]
Metric conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     62     3 −7     68     6 −5     101     12 1     113     18 6     116     24 12     92     29 17     91     31 19     83     30 18     79     26 13     74     20 6     111     12 1     81     6 −4 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Mount Vernon have ranged from a low of 19 °F (−7 °C) in January to a high of 88 °F (31 °C) in July, although a record low of −21 °F (−29 °C) was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of 114 °F (46 °C) was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 2.45 inches (62 mm) in January to 4.58 inches (116 mm) in May.^[5]

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

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1820	691		—
1830	2,555		269.8%
1840	5,762		125.5%
1850	8,109		40.7%
1860	12,965		59.9%
1870	17,864		37.8%
1880	20,686		15.8%
1890	22,590		9.2%
1900	28,133		24.5%
1910	29,111		3.5%
1920	28,480		−2.2%
1930	31,034		9.0%
1940	34,375		10.8%
1950	35,892		4.4%
1960	32,315		−10.0%
1970	31,446		−2.7%
1980	36,552		16.2%
1990	37,020		1.3%
2000	40,045		8.2%
2010	38,827		−3.0%
2020	37,113		−4.4%
2023 (est.)	36,320	[6]	−2.1%
U.S. Decennial Census[7] 1790–1960[8] 1900–1990[9] 1990–2000[10] 2010–2013[1]

2000 census age pyramid for Jefferson County

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 38,827 people, 15,365 households, and 10,140 families residing in the county.^[11] The population density was 68.0 inhabitants per square mile (26.3/km²). There were 16,954 housing units at an average density of 29.7 per square mile (11.5/km²).^[4] 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.^[11] In terms of ancestry, 24.3% were German, 15.8% were Irish, 13.6% were English, and 10.2% were American.^[12]

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.^[11]

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.^[13]

Agencies

In 2015 the county police department announced that the words "In God We Trust" will be on police squad cars.^[14]

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:^[15] as is typical of the Upland South, Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton did far worse than any previous Democrat.

United States presidential election results for Jefferson County, Illinois^[16]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	12,189	72.97%	4,240	25.38%	275	1.65%
2020	12,476	71.55%	4,608	26.43%	352	2.02%
2016	11,695	68.80%	4,425	26.03%	879	5.17%
2012	9,811	60.12%	6,089	37.31%	420	2.57%
2008	9,302	54.02%	7,462	43.33%	457	2.65%
2004	10,160	59.95%	6,713	39.61%	75	0.44%
2000	8,362	54.44%	6,685	43.52%	313	2.04%
1996	5,937	39.63%	7,263	48.48%	1,781	11.89%
1992	5,497	31.24%	8,665	49.24%	3,435	19.52%
1988	7,624	49.42%	7,729	50.10%	73	0.47%
1984	9,642	57.10%	7,200	42.64%	43	0.25%
1980	8,972	54.91%	6,761	41.38%	607	3.71%
1976	7,422	44.93%	8,989	54.41%	109	0.66%
1972	9,448	59.40%	6,396	40.21%	61	0.38%
1968	7,367	47.63%	6,476	41.87%	1,624	10.50%
1964	6,248	39.29%	9,653	60.71%	0	0.00%
1960	9,841	55.84%	7,784	44.16%	0	0.00%
1956	9,637	54.36%	8,090	45.64%	0	0.00%
1952	9,841	53.03%	8,698	46.87%	19	0.10%
1948	7,393	45.30%	8,928	54.70%	0	0.00%
1944	7,916	47.83%	8,496	51.33%	139	0.84%
1940	8,692	44.09%	10,887	55.22%	136	0.69%
1936	7,290	41.26%	10,240	57.96%	138	0.78%
1932	5,333	35.54%	9,495	63.28%	177	1.18%
1928	7,326	55.08%	5,905	44.40%	70	0.53%
1924	5,406	44.57%	6,258	51.59%	466	3.84%
1920	5,711	53.57%	4,772	44.77%	177	1.66%
1916	6,028	46.35%	6,685	51.40%	292	2.25%
1912	1,834	27.73%	3,237	48.94%	1,543	23.33%
1908	3,210	47.30%	3,377	49.76%	200	2.95%
1904	3,063	51.33%	2,462	41.26%	442	7.41%
1900	2,805	44.22%	3,332	52.53%	206	3.25%
1896	2,603	41.27%	3,588	56.89%	116	1.84%
1892	1,949	37.24%	2,332	44.55%	953	18.21%

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:^[17]

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