Massac County, Illinois
Encyclopedia
Massac County is a county located on the Ohio River
in the state
of Illinois
, USA
. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 15,429, which is an increase of 1.8% from 15,161 in 2000. Its county seat
is Metropolis
.
Massac County is part of the Paducah
, KY
-IL Micropolitan Statistical Area
.
for thousands of years before European contact. The most complex and last was that of the Mississippian culture
, which built the complex mounds and plaza at the Kincaid Site (now a National Historic Landmark
). They abandoned the site in about 1500, centuries before European contact.
Part of the Illinois Country
was claimed by French
explorers, this area was barely settled, with most French colonial villages close to the Mississippi River
. During the French and Indian War
against the British
, the French built a fort here in 1757. It was named Fort Massac
after Claude Louis d'Espinchal, Marquis de Massiac, the French Naval Minister. Massiac is a commune
in Cantal
, France
. Although beginning to be settled by European Americans after the American Revolution
, Massac County was formally organized in 1843, out of territory from both Johnson and Pope counties. In the mid-19th century, after the revolutions of 1848
, the Midwest received many German
immigrants. Their self-identified descendants today comprise nearly one-third of the population of the county.
of 2000, there were 15,161 people, 6,261 households, and 4,320 families residing in the county. The population density
was 63 people per square mile (24/km²). There were 6,951 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile (11/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 92.57% White
, 5.48% Black
or African American
, 0.20% Native American
, 0.26% Asian
, 0.33% from other races
, and 1.16% from two or more races. 0.81% of the population were Hispanic
or Latino
of any race. 26.9% were of German
, 19.3% American
, 12.2% English
and 10.1% Irish
ancestry according to Census 2000.
There were 6,261 households out of which 29.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.50% were married couples
living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.00% were non-families. 28.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the county the population was spread out with 23.00% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 17.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $31,498, and the median income for a family was $39,068. Males had a median income of $32,793 versus $20,399 for females. The per capita income
for the county was $16,334. About 10.40% of families and 13.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.40% of those under age 18 and 14.10% of those age 65 or over.
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
in the state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 15,429, which is an increase of 1.8% from 15,161 in 2000. Its county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
is Metropolis
Metropolis, Illinois
Metropolis is a city located along the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,482...
.
Massac County is part of the Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...
, KY
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
-IL Micropolitan Statistical Area
Paducah micropolitan area
The Paducah Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties – three in the Jackson Purchase region of Kentucky and one in southern Illinois – anchored by the city of Paducah, Kentucky....
.
Geography
According to the 2010 census, the county has a total area of 241.81 square miles (626.3 km²), of which 237.22 square miles (614.4 km²) (or 98.10%) is land and 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²) (or 1.90%) is water.Major highways
U.S. Highway 45
Interstate 57 (Illinois)>
Adjacent counties
- Pope County - north
- Livingston CountyLivingston County, KentuckyLivingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 9,804. Its county seat is Smithland. The county is named for Robert R. Livingston...
, KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
- east - McCracken CountyMcCracken County, KentuckyMcCracken County is a county located in the Jackson Purchase, the extreme western end of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 65,514. The county seat, largest city, and only incorporated community is Paducah....
, KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
- south - Pulaski County - west
- Johnson County - northwest
History
This area was occupied by various cultures of indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
for thousands of years before European contact. The most complex and last was that of the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
, which built the complex mounds and plaza at the Kincaid Site (now a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
). They abandoned the site in about 1500, centuries before European contact.
Part of the Illinois Country
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...
was claimed by French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
explorers, this area was barely settled, with most French colonial villages close to the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. During the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
against the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the French built a fort here in 1757. It was named Fort Massac
Fort Massac
Fort Massac is a colonial and early National-era fort on the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois, United States.Legend has it that, as early as 1540, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and his soldiers constructed a primitive fortification here to defend themselves from native attack...
after Claude Louis d'Espinchal, Marquis de Massiac, the French Naval Minister. Massiac is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in Cantal
Cantal
Cantal is a department in south-central France. It is named after the Cantal mountain range, a group of extinct, eroded volcanic peaks, which covers much of the department. Residents are known as Cantaliens or Cantalous....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Although beginning to be settled by European Americans after the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Massac County was formally organized in 1843, out of territory from both Johnson and Pope counties. In the mid-19th century, after the revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
, the Midwest received many German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
immigrants. Their self-identified descendants today comprise nearly one-third of the population of the county.
Demographics
2010
Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:- 91.0% WhiteWhite AmericanWhite Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
- 5.9% BlackAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
- 0.4% Native AmericanNative Americans in the United StatesNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
- 0.3% AsianAsian AmericanAsian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
- 0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific IslanderPacific Islander AmericanPacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
- 2.0% Two or more racesMultiracial AmericanMultiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...
- 0.4% Other racesRace (United States Census)Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
- 1.9% Hispanic or LatinoHispanic and Latino AmericansHispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...
(of any race)
2000
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 15,161 people, 6,261 households, and 4,320 families residing in the county. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 63 people per square mile (24/km²). There were 6,951 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile (11/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 92.57% White
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 5.48% Black
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or African American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.20% Native American
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.26% Asian
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, 0.33% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.16% from two or more races. 0.81% of the population were Hispanic
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
or Latino
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
of any race. 26.9% were of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, 19.3% American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 12.2% English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
and 10.1% Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
ancestry according to Census 2000.
There were 6,261 households out of which 29.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.50% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.00% were non-families. 28.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the county the population was spread out with 23.00% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 17.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $31,498, and the median income for a family was $39,068. Males had a median income of $32,793 versus $20,399 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the county was $16,334. About 10.40% of families and 13.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.40% of those under age 18 and 14.10% of those age 65 or over.
Cities and towns
- BrookportBrookport, IllinoisBrookport is a city in Massac County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,054 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Paducah, KY-IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Brookport is located at ....
- JoppaJoppa, IllinoisJoppa is a village in Massac County, Illinois, along the Ohio River. The population was 409 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Paducah, KY-IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Joppa is located at ....
- MetropolisMetropolis, IllinoisMetropolis is a city located along the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,482...
Unincorporated communities
- Bargerville
- New LibertyNew Liberty, IllinoisNew Liberty is an unincorporated community in Pope County, Illinois, United States. New Liberty is east of Brookport....
- Round KnobRound Knob, IllinoisRound Knob is an unincorporated community in Massac County, Illinois, United States. Round Knob is north of Metropolis....
- Shady GroveShady Grove, IllinoisShady Grove is an unincorporated community in Massac County, Illinois, United States. Shady Grove is east of Brookport....
- UnionvilleUnionville, Massac County, IllinoisUnionville is an unincorporated community in Massac County, Illinois, United States. Unionville is east of Brookport....
Climate and weather
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Metropolis have ranged from a low of 25 °F (-3.9 °C) in January to a high of 90 °F (32.2 °C) in July, although a record low of -21 °F was recorded in January 1984 and a record high of 105 °F (40.6 °C) was recorded in July 1999. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 3 inches (7.6 cm) in August to 4.76 inches (12.1 cm) in May.See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Massac County, Illinois