Livingston County, Illinois
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Livingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 35,815.<ref name="QF">Template:Cite web</ref> Its county seat is Pontiac.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> Livingston County comprises the Pontiac, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is combined with the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan statistical area as the Bloomington-Pontiac, IL Combined Statistical Area in upper portion of Central Illinois.
History
On October 27, 1830, Valentine Darnell and his wife Rachel became the first white settlers of Livingston County.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Livingston was established on February 27, 1837. It was formed from parts of McLean, LaSalle, and Iroquois counties, and named after Edward Livingston,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> a prominent politician who was mayor of New York City and represented New York in the United States House of Representatives and Louisiana in both houses of Congress. He later served as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and as Minister to France. Although he had no connections to Illinois, the General Assembly found him accomplished enough to name a county after him.
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Livingston County at the time of its creation in 1837
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (0.2%) is water.<ref name="census-density"/> It is the fourth-largest county in Illinois by land area.
Climate and weather
Template:Climate chart In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Pontiac have ranged from a low of Template:Convert in January to a high of Template:Convert in July, although a record low of Template:Convert was recorded in January 1927 and a record high of Template:Convert was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from Template:Convert in February to Template:Convert in June.<ref name="weather"/>
Transit
Major highways
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Adjacent counties
- LaSalle County - northwest
- Grundy County - north
- Kankakee County - northeast
- Ford County - southeast
- McLean County - southwest
- Woodford County - west
Demographics
2020 census
| Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 1980<ref name=1980Census>Template:Cite web</ref> | Pop 1990<ref name=1990Census>Template:Cite web</ref> | Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref> | Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> | Pop 2020<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref> | % 1980 | % 1990 | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 38,790 | 36,171 | 36,145 | 34,903 | 31,518 | 93.74% | 92.04% | 91.10% | 89.61% | 88.00% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 1,807 | 2,091 | 2,032 | 1,887 | 1,081 | 4.37% | 5.32% | 5.12% | 4.84% | 3.02% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 35 | 57 | 60 | 51 | 38 | 0.08% | 0.15% | 0.15% | 0.13% | 0.11% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 92 | 127 | 121 | 197 | 171 | 0.22% | 0.32% | 0.30% | 0.51% | 0.48% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) | x <ref>included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census</ref> | x <ref>included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census</ref> | 2 | 1 | 1 | x | x | 0.01% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 36 | 29 | 11 | 29 | 89 | 0.09% | 0.07% | 0.03% | 0.07% | 0.25% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | x <ref>not an option in the 1980 Census</ref> | x <ref>not an option in the 1990 Census</ref> | 251 | 350 | 1,058 | x | x | 0.63% | 0.90% | 2.95% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 621 | 826 | 1,056 | 1,532 | 1,859 | 1.50% | 2.10% | 2.66% | 3.93% | 5.19% |
| Total | 41,381 | 39,301 | 39,678 | 38,950 | 35,815 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
2010 census
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 38,950 people, 14,613 households, and 9,741 families residing in the county.<ref name="census-dp1">Template:Cite web</ref> The population density was Template:Convert. There were 15,895 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert.<ref name="census-density">Template:Cite web</ref> The racial makeup of the county was 91.8% white, 4.9% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.3% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.9% of the population.<ref name="census-dp1"/> In terms of ancestry, 36.6% were German, 17.2% were Irish, 11.2% were American, 10.7% were English, and 5.1% were Italian.<ref name="census-dp2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Of the 14,613 households, 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.3% were non-families, and 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.98. The median age was 40.8 years.<ref name="census-dp1"/>
The median income for a household in the county was $50,500 and the median income for a family was $60,933. Males had a median income of $44,639 versus $32,234 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,259. About 9.1% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.4% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.<ref name="census-dp3">Template:Cite web</ref>
Communities
Cities
Town
Villages
Townships
Livingston County is divided into thirty townships:
- Amity
- Avoca
- Belle Prairie
- Broughton
- Charlotte
- Chatsworth
- Dwight
- Eppards Point
- Esmen
- Fayette
- Forrest
- Germanville
- Indian Grove
- Long Point
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- Newtown
- Odell
- Owego
- Pike
- Pleasant Ridge
- Pontiac
- Reading
- Rooks Creek
- Round Grove
- Saunemin
- Sullivan
- Sunbury
- Union
- Waldo
Unincorporated communities
Government and infrastructure
The Illinois Department of Corrections operates two prisons in the county.
Pontiac Correctional Center is located in Pontiac.<ref>"Pontiac Correctional Center." Illinois Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.</ref> Pontiac houses the male death row. Prior to the January 11, 2003, commutation of death row sentences, male death row inmates were housed in Pontiac, Menard, and Tamms correctional centers.<ref name="IllinoisDR">"DOC Report Online Template:Webarchive." Illinois Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.</ref> Dwight Correctional Center is within Nevada Township in an unincorporated area in the county.<ref>"Dwight village, IllinoisTemplate:Dead link." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.</ref><ref>"Dwight Correctional Center." Illinois Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 1, 2001.</ref>
The Dwight Correctional Center is currently unoccupied and was closed in 2013.
Politics
Although it was solidly Democratic before 1856, Livingston has since always been a powerfully Republican county. The solitary Democrat to win a majority of the county's vote since the Civil War has been Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1932 landslide triumph over Herbert Hoover. Apart from that and the 1912 election when Woodrow Wilson won against a mortally divided Republican Party, Livingston has always voted Republican since that party was founded in 1856. Since 1940, only Lyndon Johnson in his 1964 landslide victory over the conservative Barry Goldwater has won more than forty percent of the county's vote.
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Notable residents
- Donald Attig, businessman and adventurer.
- Libbie Beach Brown (1858-1924), philanthropist and temperance activist<ref name="WillardLivermore-1893">Template:Cite book Template:Source-attribution</ref>
- Calistus Bruer, Illinois state representative and farmer<ref>'Illinois Blue Book 199-1950,' Biographical Sketch of Calistus Bruer, pg. 164-165</ref>
- M. C. Eignus, Illinois state representative<ref>'Official Directory of the Forty-Second General Assembly of Illinois-1901,' Talbot & Hamman, Springfield, Illinois: 1865, Biographical Sketch of M. C. Eignus, pg. 65</ref>
- Moira Harris, actress and wife of Gary Sinise.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- William Harris, first President of the Illinois Senate.<ref>'William C. Harris-obituary,' Chicago Tribune, January 2, 2005</ref><ref>'Illinois Blue Book 1975-1976,' Biographical Sketch of William C. Harris, pg. 146</ref>
- Irene Hunt, Newbery Medal-winning author.
- Francis Townsend, physician and political activist whose advocacy for an old age revolving pension influenced the creation of the U.S. Social Security program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Skottie Young, comic book artist known for the Oz series. He was born and raised in Fairbury.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
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