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Mount Carroll 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 parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of
Carroll County, Illinois Carroll County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the population was 15,702. Its county seat is Mount Carroll. History Carroll County was formed in 1839 out of Jo Daviess County. The county is named f ...
, United States. The population was 1,479 at the 2020 census.


History

Mount Carroll began life as a mill town around 1841. In 1843, a referendum moved the county seat from nearby
Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
to Mount Carroll. The town was incorporated in 1855 and became a city in 1867; the first mayor was Nathaniel Halderman, a prominent local businessman and co-founder of the mill.
Shimer College Shimer Great Books School ( ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of Chicago, or ...
was established in Mt. Carroll in 1853, but mounting debts forced a move to
Waukegan Waukegan ( ) is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Chicago, Waukegan is a satellite city within the greater Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its popu ...
in 1979 and subsequently to Chicago in 2006. The campus now is home to several organizations, most notably the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies.


Geography

Mount Carroll is located slightly northwest of the center of Carroll County at (42.095473, -89.977042). U.S. Route 52 passes through the southern part of the city, leading east to
Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...
and west to
Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
on the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Mount Carroll has a total area of , all land.


Climate

Mt. Carroll has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
: Dfa), with cold winters, hot summers, and four seasons. Annual precipitation is about 40 inches. Due to its elevation and northwesterly location, Mount Carroll is subject to unusually cold winter weather. From 1930 to 1999, Mount Carroll held the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded in Illinois, , recorded on January 22, 1930. The record was beaten by Congerville in 1999, by one degree Fahrenheit. 20 years later, on January 31, 2019, during an extreme cold snap, Mount Carroll regained the title of coldest city in Illinois when a new Illinois state record low temperature of was officially recorded.


Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 1,479 people, 667 households, and 403 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 812 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.2%
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 ...
, 0.34%
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 ...
, 0.2% Asian, 0.41% from other races, and 3.85% 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 2.84% of the population. There were 667 households, out of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.43% were married couples living together, 12.14% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.58% were non-families. 36.13% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.09% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 2.12. The city's age distribution consisted of 19.6% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 19.3% from 25 to 44, 29.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 77.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $54,821, and the median income for a family was $62,788. Males had a median income of $42,396 versus $30,387 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 $27,966. About 6% of families and 10.3% 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 19.7% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.


Arts and culture

Mount Carroll enjoys a remarkable concentration of historically and architecturally significant structures. The bulk of the town's downtown and older residential area are included in the Mount Carroll Historic District, which encompasses and was entered into the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1980. Mount Carroll is also home to the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies, located on the historic former Shimer College campus near the south edge of town. The Timber Lake Playhouse, the oldest semiprofessional summer stock theater company in Illinois, is located southeast of Mount Carroll. The Mount Carroll post office contains an oil on canvas mural, ''Rural Scene - Wakarusa Valley'', painted by
Irene Bianucci Irene Bianucci (December 16, 1903November 20, 1988) was an Italian-born American painter, who participated in the art projects for the New Deal's Section of Painting and Sculpture creating the United States post office murals, post office mural fo ...
in 1941. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the
Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...
, later called the
Section of Fine Arts Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...
, of the Treasury Department.


Transportation

* U.S. Route 52 and Illinois Route 64 (concurrent with US 52), east towards
Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...
, west towards
Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
and the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
*
Illinois Route 40 Illinois Route 40 (IL 40) is a north–south route in central portion of the U.S. state of Illinois. It runs from Interstate 74 (I-74) in East Peoria, Illinois, East Peoria north to Illinois Route 78, IL 78 at Mount Carroll, Illinois, Mt. ...
, south towards Chadwick, Milledgeville and Sterling- Rock Falls *
Illinois Route 78 Illinois Route 78 is a major north–south highway in western Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 104 northwest of Jacksonville north to Highway 78 at the Wisconsin state line north of Warren. This is a distance of . Route descrip ...
, north towards Stockton, south towards
Morrison Morrison may refer to: People * Morrison (surname), people with the Scottish surname Morrison * Morrison Heady (1829–1915), American poet * Morrison Mann MacBride (1877–1938), Canadian merchant Places in the United States * Morrison, Colorad ...
The former Milwaukee Road line from Chicago to Omaha runs through Mount Carroll.


Notable people

* Neva Burright, Illinois harness racing driver and first woman to win a Grand Circuit race * Samuel James Campbell, banker and philanthropist; born in Mount Carroll * John L. Griffith, college coach, first commissioner of the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...
* Dr. Blanche Moore Haines, physician; Michigan State chair of the National Woman Suffrage Association; graduated Mount Carroll High School * Felix A. Kremer, Wisconsin State Assemblyman; born in Mount Carroll *
Howard Kyle Howard Kyle (April 22, 1861 – December 1, 1950) was an American stage and screen actor and lecturer active for over 50 years. He was a founding member and one-time recording-secretary of Actors' Equity and a sixty-year member of The Players ...
(née Vandergrift), noted actor, Union School class of 1879 valedictorian * Suzanna W. Miles, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnohistorian and Mayanist; born in Mount Carroll * Ward Miller, outfielder for five
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
teams; born in Mount Carroll. * James Shaw, Illinois state representative, lawyer, judge, and geologist; practices law in Mount Carroll * Neta Snook, pioneer female aviator and aviation instructor * Emmert L. Wingert, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice; born in Mount Carroll


Photos

Downtown Market Street MG 8159.jpg, Downtown Market Street Dwntown Market Street MG 8191.jpg, Downtown Market Street Downtown HotelMG 8147.jpg, Downtown hotel Downtown Main Street MG 8155.jpg, Downtown Main Street


References


External links


City of Mount Carroll official website

Mount Carroll visitors guide

Mount Carroll Community Development Corporation
{{authority control Cities in Carroll County, Illinois Cities in Illinois County seats in Illinois 1841 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1841