Edwards County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,245. Its

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 ...

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 ...

History

Edwards County was named for Ninian Edwards, the governor of the Illinois Territory, and, later, governor of Illinois. Edwards County is subdivided into "Road Districts", rather than " Townships" as in most Illinois counties. Pursuant to the

Land Ordinance of 1785 The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not hav ...

, the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

(including Illinois) was surveyed and mostly organized into townships that are six miles square; but Edwards County was settled prior to that survey, and its pre-existing Road Districts do not generally correspond with the survey's townships. File:Edwards County Illinois 1815.png, Edwards County, when it was created in 1815 from Gallatin and Madison Counties, extended north to Lake Michigan. File:Edwards County Illinois 1816.png, The county between 1816 and 1819. Clark and

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 ...

Counties were created from Edwards and Gallatin Counties. File:Edwards County Illinois 1819.png, The county between 1819 and 1821. At this point Crawford County was split off from Edwards, and Wayne Counties. File:Edwards County Illinois 1821.png, Edwards between 1821 and 1824 File:Edwards County Illinois 1824.png, Edwards in 1824, reduced to its current size by the creation of Wabash County

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water. It is the fourth-smallest county in Illinois by area. When Edwards County was formed in 1814, it comprised nearly half of the State of Illinois. New counties were formed from it until, in 1824, it assumed its present form from the creation of Wabash County. The two are the fourth and fifth smallest counties in Illinois. Edwards County is separated from Wabash County by the Bonpas Creek.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Albion have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1982 and a record high of was recorded in July 1954. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in April.

Major highways

Illinois Route 1 Illinois Route 1 (IL 1) is a state highway (US), state highway in the U.S. state of Illinois. Running parallel to the Indiana border, the highway starts at the Cave-In-Rock Ferry, free ferry crossing to Kentucky at Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, ...

* Illinois Route 15 * Illinois Route 130

Adjacent counties

* Richland County (north) * Wabash County (east) * White County (south) * Wayne County (west)

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 6,721 people, 2,840 households, and 1,926 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 3,187 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.0% white, 0.4% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% American Indian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 26.8% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 22.4% were English, 13.3% were American, and 8.4% were Irish. Of the 2,840 households, 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.2% were non-families, and 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age was 42.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $40,430 and the median income for a family was $51,337. Males had a median income of $40,183 versus $27,295 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,113. About 10.6% of families and 12.2% 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 17.1% of those under age 18 and 12.3% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

(seat) * Grayville (Partially in White County)

Villages

* Bone Gap * Browns * West Salem

Unincorporated Communities

* Bennington *

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

* Ellery * Maple Grove * Marion * Red Top * Samsville

Precincts

Edwards County is divided into 12 election precincts: * Albion No. 1 * Albion No. 2 * Albion No. 3 * Bone Gap * Browns * Dixon * Ellery * French Creek * Salem No. 1 * Salem No. 2 * Shelby No. 1 * Shelby No. 2

Politics

Edwards County is one of the most consistently Republican counties in the nation. It has voted for the Republican candidate in all Presidential elections from 1856 to present, except in 1912 when the party was divided and Theodore Roosevelt won the county as the “Bull Moose” Progressive candidate. In the last five Presidential elections no Democratic candidate has reached 34 percent of the county's vote. Edwards County also holds the distinction of having the lowest percentage of any Illinois county of votes for governor Pat Quinn, a Democrat, in his failed 2014 reelection bid. Quinn lost 101 of the 102 counties in Illinois, capturing only 13.7% of the vote in Edwards County.

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

fared even worse in 2016 with only 13.1 percent of the county's ballots. The last Democrat to win the county was

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

in 1832. In other positions the county has been not been consistently Republican for as long, but nevertheless has been so for many years. The last Democratic Senatorial candidate it backed was Alan J. Dixon in 1986 and the last Democratic gubernatorial candidate it supported was Glenn Poshard, who carried all of

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

in his failed 1998 bid. Edwards County lies in

Illinois's 15th congressional district The 15th congressional district of Illinois is currently located in central Illinois. It was located in eastern and southeastern Illinois until 2022. It is currently represented by Republican Party (United States), Republican Mary Miller (poli ...

, which has

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated PVI or CPVI, is a measurement of how partisan a U.S. congressional district or U.S. state is. This partisanship is indicated as lean towards either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, com ...

of R+21 and has been represented by Republican

Mike Bost Michael Joseph Bost ( ; born December 30, 1960) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he has served as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 12th congressional district since 2015. From 19 ...

since 2023. Edwards County is a

dry county In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties n ...

, with multiple referendums to allow alcohol sales failing in the mid-1990s. The portion of Grayville, Illinois that lies within Edwards County does allow alcohol sales per Grayville city ordinance.

References

United States Census Bureau 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles

United States Board on Geographic Names (GNIS)

United States National Atlas

External links

{{Coord, 38.42, -88.06, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 Illinois counties 1814 establishments in Illinois Territory Populated places established in 1814 Edwards County, Illinois Pre-statehood history of Illinois