Eliza is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

in Eliza Township, Mercer 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. Eliza is north of New Boston. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 25.

History

The Bishop family settled the town around the 1840s. The grandson John Bishop owned almost all of the town, including his own general store. He had been manager of the town band since 1914. The town also had a basketball team. Their church was named the Eliza Episcopal Church. By the late 1920s, the town had of farmland along with a general store, drugstore, church, theater, dancehall, pool hall, and a barber shop, among houses and a few community buildings. On November 14, 1929, John Bishop auctioned off almost all the town, save for four houses. His reasons were not officially stated, but could have likely been due to the recent start of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in late October. News of the auction was featured in newspapers as far away as

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Geography

Eliza is in northwestern Mercer County, north of New Boston and northwest of Aledo, 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 ...

. It sits on a hilltop that drains east to Irwin Branch, a south-flowing tributary of Eliza Creek, which flows southwest to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

at New Boston. 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 ...

, the Eliza CDP has an area of , all land.

Demographics

References

Census-designated places in Mercer County, Illinois Census-designated places in Illinois Unincorporated communities in Mercer County, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois {{MercerCountyIL-geo-stub