Albion is a city in and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Edwards County, Illinois, United States.
The population was 1,971 at the 2020 census.
The city was named "
Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...
" after an ancient and poetic reference to the island of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
.
History
The settlement now known as Albion was originally known to the world as "Mr. Morris Birkbeck's English Prairie", when Morris Birkbeck, an English Quaker, with co-founder George Flower (1788–1862) established the town as a
utopian community in 1817. In 1818, following an irreconcilable fall-out between Birkbeck and Flower, the portion of English Prairie then settled on by Flower was given the name
Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...
.
In 1821, the county seat of Edwards County was moved from
Palmyra
Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...
to Albion, eighteen miles to the west. However, residents of the larger
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...
felt their town should be the county seat. Four companies of militia marched from Mount Carmel towards Albion to seize the county documents stored in the courthouse. The situation was eventually resolved in 1824 by separating
Wabash County from Edwards County at
Bonpas Creek and making Mount Carmel the seat of Wabash County. The two counties are among the smallest in Illinois.
The township of Albion has a curious link with England and brewing. George Flower and
Morris Birkbeck, a Quaker agriculturalist and radical, organised the purchase of 26,400 acres of land in the southern "
Illinois Territory
The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ...
," and encouraged settlers from England to come and join them. Among them was George's father
Richard Flower, an experienced brewer (who at some point taught his son about making popular beer styles of the period, including London Porter). Flower came across the Atlantic with all his remaining children.
The settlement espoused a firm
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world.
The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...
ethos, and escaped slaves from Kentucky settled in Albion, encouraged by the Flowers and other community leaders. However, these formerly enslaved people were always in danger of being kidnapped by bounty hunters aiming to return them to slavery. Around 1823-24 one such gang of eight to ten kidnapped a group of free African-American residents of Albion and headed south. They were pursued by an outraged armed party led by Richard's youngest son,
Edward
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...
. He was only eighteen years old, but his posse successfully captured the gang "at the rifle's mouth," freed the captives, and took the kidnappers to face judgment under the law.
Friends or ‘business associates’ of the original kidnappers' allies plotted to kill the young Flower or his father in revenge. According to some newspaper reports, a cousin also named Richard was tragically mistaken for Edward's father and killed in a pre-planned argument and fight. On another occasion, a bullet was fired through a window of Richard's house and smashed a mirror above his head. The family decided that the only safe plan was for Edward Flower to leave the country. Back in England after 1825, he decided to take up the family trade and, after a struggling start, Flower's Brewery in
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
became one of the most famous in England, surviving as a separate company to the 1950s and as a brand to this day. Edward loved Illinois and missed his former life in America with his family. He regretted his forced departure and frequently mused about returning. During the Civil War, Flower spoke at meetings around Britain and Ireland in support of the Union, and against slavery. As a retiree, he made a six-month visit to the US with his wife Celina in 1866, after the war was over.
On June 2, 1990, as part of the larger
June 1990 Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak, An F4 passed through the town. As it moved through, famous footage was taken of the
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...
showing it growing several vortacies that extended out like arms.
Geography
Albion is located south of the center of Edwards County. In it,
Illinois Route 130 and
Illinois Route 15 meet. Route 130 leads north to
Olney and south to
Grayville, while Route 15 leads east to
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...
and west to
Fairfield.
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Albion has a total area of , of which (or 97.89%) is land and (or 2.11%) is water.
A 3.8-magnitude earthquake occurred seven and a half miles outside of the city on September 19, 2017.
Climate
Demographics
As of the
2020 census there were 1,971 people, 926 households, and 532 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 953 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.11%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.61%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 1.01%
Asian, 0.36%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.51% from
other races, and 3.40% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 1.52% of the population.
There were 926 households, out of which 36.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.66% were married couples living together, 15.98% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.55% were non-families. 36.61% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.95% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.04 and the average family size was 2.36.
The city's age distribution consisted of 27.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $43,971, and the median income for a family was $64,375. Males had a median income of $37,422 versus $30,370 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $24,818. About 16.5% of families and 18.1% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 23.4% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
*
Harold Huntley Bassett, U.S. Air Force major general
*
Morris Birkbeck, first Illinois Secretary of State, one of Albion's founders
*
Louis Lincoln Emmerson, served as
Secretary of State of Illinois
The secretary of state of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of state keeps the state records, laws, libra ...
and
Governor of Illinois
The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its we ...
*
Benjamin Orange Flower, Journalist
*
Edward Fordham Flower, English brewer
*
Harold A. Garman, U.S. Army medic and
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
recipient in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
*
Guy U. Hardy, former congressman from
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
*
Jeff Keener, former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals
*
H. H. Kohlsaat, publisher and confidante of five U.S. presidents
*
Bruce Mendenhall, convicted murderer and alleged serial killer
*
George Frederick Pentecost, prominent clergyman, evangelist and co-worker with revivalist D.L. Moody
*
William Pickering, fifth governor of
Washington Territory
The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
References
Further reading
*''A History of Edwards County, Illinois'', Volume One (1980), Library of Congress Card number 80–70649
*Charles Boewe, ''Prairie Albion: An English Settlement in Pioneer Illinois'',
Southern Illinois University Press
Southern Illinois University Press or SIU Press, founded in 1956, is a university press located in Carbondale, Illinois, owned and operated by Southern Illinois University.
The press publishes approximately 50 titles annually, among its more th ...
, Carbondale, c. 1962
External links
Albion Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control
Cities in Illinois
Cities in Edwards County, Illinois
County seats in Illinois
Populated places established in 1816
1816 establishments in Illinois Territory