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 civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Edwards County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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 northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Geography

Albion is located south of the center of Edwards County at (38.377300, -88.061028). In it,

Illinois Route 130 Illinois Route 130 is a north–south state highway in eastern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 1 in Grayville north to Interstate 74 in Urbana. This is a distance of . Illinois 130 is the main north–south highway through Charlest ...

and

Illinois Route 15 Illinois Route 15 (IL 15) is a east–west highway in southern Illinois with its western terminus at Illinois Route 3, U.S. Route 40, I-55, and I-64, and its eastern terminus at Wabash River at the Illinois/Indiana Border where it meets Sta ...

meet. Route 130 leads north to Olney and south to Grayville, while Route 15 leads east to

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

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

History

Albion was laid out in 1818 as a

utopian community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

and given the name

, a literary name for England. In 1821, the county seat of Edwards County was moved from

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...

to Albion, eighteen miles to the west. However, residents of the larger

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 Bonpas Creek is a tributary of the Wabash River in Illinois. It rises to the east of Olney in Richland County, Illinois. Flowing south, it forms the boundary between Edwards and Wabash counties. The creek is long.U.S. Geological Survey. Na ...

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 Morris Birkbeck (January 23, 1764 – June 4, 1825) was an English agricultural innovator, author/publicist, anti-slavery campaigner and early 19th-century pioneer in southern Illinois, in the United States. With George Flower he founded the Engl ...

, 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 ca ...

," to found Albion 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 movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

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 given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

. 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 just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

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.

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 hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 0.61%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.01%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.36%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, 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 the original p ...

, 0.51% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 3.40% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 1.52% of the population. There were 926 households, out of which 46.65% 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 total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

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 t ...

, including 23.4% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

Harold Huntley Bassett Harold Huntley Bassett (April 1, 1907 – October 4, 2007) was a major general in the United States Air Force. Early life Harold Huntley Bassett was born in April 1907 in Albion, Illinois. He would attend St. John's Military Academy in Del ...

, U.S. Air Force major general *

, first Illinois Secretary of State, one of Albion's founders *

Louis Lincoln Emmerson Louis Lincoln Emmerson (December 27, 1863 – February 4, 1941) was an American Republican politician and the twenty-seventh governor of Illinois. Family Louis was born on December 27, 1863, in Albion, Illinois, and is the son of Jesse and ...

, 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 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of states in the United States. The Illinois Secretary o ...

and

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...

Benjamin Orange Flower Benjamin Orange Flower (October 19, 1858 – December 24, 1918), known most commonly by his initials "B.O.", was an American muckraking journalist of the Progressive era. Flower is best remembered as the editor of the liberal commentary magazin ...

, Journalist *

Edward Fordham Flower Edward Fordham Flower (1805–1883) was an English brewer and author who campaigned for a Shakespeare memorial theatre and against cruelty to animals. Origins Born at Marden Hill in Hertfordshire on 31 January 1805, he was the younger surviving ...

, 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 military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

recipient in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Guy U. Hardy Guy Urban Hardy (April 4, 1872 – January 26, 1947) was a U.S. Representative from Colorado for fourteen years. He was a newspaper editor and publisher for 52 years as well as president of the National Editorial Association. Three parks were es ...

, former congressman from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

* Jeff Keener, former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals * H. H. Kohlsaat, publisher and confidante of five U.S. presidents * George Frederick Pentecost, prominent clergyman, evangelist and co-worker with revivalist D.L. Moody * William Pickering, fifth governor of

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington 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 ...

* Bruce Mendenhall, convicted murderer and alleged serial killer * Rodney K. Metcalf, DJ from WJPS Evansville IN, As The "Real" Rodney Russell.

References

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