Coalton is a village in Montgomery County,

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. The population was 317 at the 2020 census.

Geography

Coalton is in eastern Montgomery County and is bordered to the northeast by the city of

Nokomis Nokomis is the name of Nanabozho's grandmother in the Ojibwe traditional stories and was the name of Hiawatha's grandmother in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, ''The Song of Hiawatha'', which is a re-telling of the Nanabozho stories. Nokomis is ...

Illinois Route 16 Illinois Route 16 (IL 16) is an east–west highway in central Illinois. Its western terminus is at the Joe Page Bridge over the Illinois River in Hardin, while its eastern terminus is at Paris at Illinois Route 1 and U.S. Route 150, with ...

runs along the northwest edge of the village, leading southwest to Hillsboro, the

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, and northeast to Pana. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, Coalton has a total area of , all land. The village drains northwest to the East Fork of Shoal Creek, a south-flowing tributary of the

Kaskaskia River The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 in central and southern Illinois in the Un ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 307 people, 123 households, and 79 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 132 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.07%

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, 0.33% Native American, 0.65%

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, 0.33% from

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, and 1.63% from two or more races.

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of any race were 0.98% of the population. There were 123 households, out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 4.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.0% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 22.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.24. In the village, the population was spread out, with 29.0% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 22.5% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.2 males. The median income for a household in the village was $37,500, and the median income for a family was $46,250. Males had a median income of $40,455 versus $15,938 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 village was $21,901. About 13.5% of families and 22.6% 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 38.1% of those under the age of eighteen and 12.2% of those 65 or over. Coalton became significant during the early to mid-twentieth century with its shaft mining operations, hence its village name.

Notable people

Red Ruffing Charles Herbert "Red" Ruffing (May 3, 1905 – February 17, 1986) was an American professional baseball player. A pitcher, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1924 through 1947. He played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, ...

, pitcher for the New York Yankees and 1967 inductee in the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

, was raised in Coalton.

References

External links

Coalton Illinois
Historical Society of Montgomery County Illinois Villages in Montgomery County, Illinois Villages in Illinois {{MontgomeryCountyIL-geo-stub