Beardstown is a city in Cass County,

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 west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. The population was 5,951 at the 2020 census. The public schools are in Beardstown Community Unit School District 15.

Geography

Beardstown is located on the

Illinois River The Illinois River () is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River at approximately in length. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, the river has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins with the confluence of the Des Plaines ...

. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Beardstown has a total area of , of which (or 99.21%) is land and (or 0.79%) is water.

Economy

Beardstown is located on the

, which plays an important role in the economy and history of the community, and is the site of two grain terminals where farm products are transferred to barges for transport. Hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation along the river contribute to the local economy. A large pork slaughterhouse, formerly owned by

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

and

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...

now by JBS, is a major employer and has attracted a substantial immigrant population to Beardstown in recent years. The slaughterhouse and the people employed there were the focus of an economic and urban planning analysis by

Faranak Miraftab Faranak Miraftab is an Iranian Americans, Iranian-American urban scholar and is currently a professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is known for her works on urban planning and development. She ...

, an Iranian-American urban scholar and professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. Her book, Global Heartland: Displaced Labor, Transnational Lives and Local Placemaking, discusses the economic and political forces that brought emigrants and immigrants to Beardstown.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 5,951 people, 2,155 households, and 1,352 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,368 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 50.56%

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 ...

, 11.39%

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 ...

, 1.71% Native American, 1.51% Asian, 0.49%

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 ...

, 23.71% from other races, and 10.62% 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 40.43% of the population. There were 2,155 households, out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.97% were married couples living together, 15.13% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.26% were non-families. 32.76% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 2.50. The city's age distribution consisted of 26.9% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 27.8% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $43,425, and the median income for a family was $49,500. Males had a median income of $36,764 versus $25,108 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 $20,599. About 20.2% of families and 22.4% 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 25.1% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

History

Beardstown was first settled by Thomas Beard in 1819; he erected a log cabin at the edge of the Illinois River, from which he traded with the local Native Americans and ran a ferry. The town was laid out in 1827 and was incorporated as a city in 1896. During the

Black Hawk War The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans led by Black Hawk (Sauk leader), Black Hawk, a Sauk people, Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of ...

in 1832, it was a base of supplies for the Illinois troops. Thomas Beard's son, Edward "Red" Beard, a noted gambler and saloon keeper of the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, was killed in a gunfight in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in 1873 by "Rowdy Joe" Lowe. Earlier, he had built a two-story brick building which was used for 85 years as a store and inn. This inn is alleged to have sheltered

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

on his visits to Beardstown, but that is legend and unconfirmed. The building was demolished and replaced by a post office. William Henry Herndon, Lincoln's Springfield law partner, claimed that Lincoln contracted

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

from a prostitute in Beardstown, an incident author

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

colorfully recounts in his historical novel ''

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

'' (1984). The Beardstown Courthouse was the site of a famous trial which helped build

's reputation as a lawyer after he used a copy of a farmer's almanac to undermine the credibility of the prosecution's key witness. The scene was later depicted in a painting by

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

. A Lincoln Museum is on the second floor of the courthouse along with many Native American relics.

The Beardstown Ladies

From 1984 to 1993, a group of 16 late-aged women were picking stocks in the

Dow Jones Dow Jones is a combination of the names of business partners Charles Dow and Edward Jones. Dow Jones & Company Dow, Jones and Charles Bergstresser founded Dow Jones & Company in 1882. That company eventually became a subsidiary of News Corp, an ...

and over the course of nine years were claiming returns of 23.4% on their stocks. Once they went public with the amazing returns, they gained national recognition for their success. The Beardstown Ladies, with an average age of 70 (1994), were asked to appear on ''

The Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'' is an American talk show that was hosted by Phil Donahue. The show ran for twenty-nine seasons from November 6, 1967, to September 13, 1996, in which it broadcast 6,715 episodes. Before it was placed in syndication i ...

'', CBS's ''Morning Show'', NBC's ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'', and ABC's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

''. For six straight years they were honored by the National Association of Investors Corp's "All-Star Investment Clubs". In 1993, they produced their first home video for investors called, ''The Beardstown Ladies: Cooking Up Profits on Wall Street''. By 1994, they wrote their first book, ''The Beardstown Ladies' Common-Sense Investment Guide'', which sold over 800,000 copies by 1998 and was a ''New York Times'' Best Seller. The Beardstown Ladies become a global phenomenon and TV stations from Germany, Brazil, and Japan were interviewing them and taping their monthly meetings in Beardstown. The seeds of scandal were planted in late 1998: a Chicago magazine noticed that the group's returns included the fees the women paid every month. Without them, the returns dwindled to just 9%, underperforming the Dow. An article in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' led the ladies to hire an outside auditor, which proved they had indeed misstated their returns. Time magazine jokingly stated that they should be jailed for fraud and misrepresentation. , the Beardstown Ladies were still buying stocks. Their books can be bought from Amazon.com for mere pennies.

Notable people

William "Duff" Armstrong William "Duff" Armstrong (c. 1833–1899) was an American Union Army soldier and the defendant in an 1858 murder prosecution in which he was defended by Abraham Lincoln, two years before Lincoln was elected President of the United States. The ca ...

, accused murderer, was tried in Beardstown and successfully defended by

. *

Walter Flanigan Walter Harrison Flanigan (May 7, 1890 – June 18, 1962) was an American football player and owner of the Rock Island Independents. He was also one of the co-founders of the National Football League (NFL). Player turned owner Flanigan joined the ...

, co-founder of

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, born in Beardstown. * Stanley J. Korsmeyer, physician, born in Beardstown, *

Frank McErlane Frank McErlane (1894–1932) was a Prohibition-era Irish-American organized crime figure. He led the Saltis-McErlane Gang, allied with Rusyn American gangster Joseph Saltis and the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone led Chicago Outfit, against rival I ...

spent his last years here *

Richard Henry Mills Richard Henry Mills (July 19, 1929 – July 16, 2023) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Education and career Born in Beardstown, Illinois, M ...

, (born 1929) Judge of the

United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois (in case citations, C.D. Ill.) serves the residents of forty-six counties, which are divided into four divisions. The counties are: Adams, Brown, Bureau, Cass, Champaign, C ...

(1985–1997). He was born in Beardstown. *

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His recor ...

, jazz vibraphone pioneer, born in Beardstown. * Janice O'Hara, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player, born in Beardstown. * Glen Seator (1956–2002), visual artist and architectural sculptor. * Jesse Wallace, United States Navy Captain and the 27th unique

Governor of American Samoa This is a list of Governor (United States), governors, etc. of the part of the Samoan Islands (now comprising American Samoa) under United States administration since 1900. From 1900 to 1978 governors were appointed by the Federal government o ...

, born in Beardstown.

References

Notes "Baseball My Opinion " by Larry Rahn..LCCN # 2008909837...published 10/27/2008

External links

at the

Illinois State Museum The Illinois State Museum features the life, land, people and art of the State of Illinois. In addition to natural history exhibits, the main museum in Springfield focuses on the state's cultural and artistic heritage. Exhibits include local foss ...

website
Beardstown Houston Memorial Library
— requires

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

{{authority control Cities in Illinois Populated places established in 1819 Cities in Cass County, Illinois 1819 establishments in Illinois