Onarga is a village in Onarga Township, Iroquois County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, United States. The population was 1,368 at the 2010 census, down from 1,438 at the 2000 census.

Geography

Onarga is located in western Iroquois County at (40.715432, -88.006928).

U.S. Route 45 U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as . US 45 is notable for incorporatin ...

passes through the center of the village, leading north to Gilman and south to

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Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route. It runs from Sikeston, Missouri, at I-55 to Chicago, Illinois, at I-94. I-57 ess ...

runs along the western border of the village, with access from Exit 280. I-57 leads north to Kankakee and south to

Champaign Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

is to the north via I-57. According to the 2010 census, Onarga has a total area of , all land.

Climate

Onarga has a continental climate, with four distinct seasons. Onarga experiences cold winters, with frequent snowfall and temperatures that sometimes plunge to as low as -10 °F to -20 °F. Average late-December to late-February high temperatures average in the mid to upper 30s. Springs are generally mild, and often rainy, windy, and cloudy with high temperatures averaging in the 50s (late-March) to 80s (early-June). Summers are hot and humid, generally with brief periods of intense thunderstorms and rainfall. Average summer high temperatures are in the mid to upper 80s, with highs in the lower 90s also common. Falls are crisp and drier with first killing frosts generally arriving in mid to late-October. Onarga's typical summer weather is highly conducive to growing corn and soybeans, which dominate the rural landscape. On average, 40.44 inches of precipitation per year fall at Onarga.

History

Onarga was originally laid out in the mid-19th century alongside the development of the railroad from Chicago. Because of its close proximity to Spring Creek, Onarga was one of the first settled areas of Iroquois County. The town grew rapidly, but the population began to level off by the mid-20th century and now maintains fairly minimal population growth. Onarga is often associated with its tree and shrub nurseries that have been in business for over 100 years, earning Onarga the nickname, "The Nursery Capital of the Midwest." Many fields surrounding the town bear rows of trees and bushes rather than corn and soybeans, which are otherwise ubiquitous throughout the region. The prosperous nursery businesses have led to a great amount of ethnic diversity in Onarga, as many Mexican and Mexican-American

migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outsi ...

s have chosen to maintain roots in the community. Onarga celebrated its

sesquicentennial An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

with a nearly week-long festival in the summer of 2004, which included social events and a strong focus on the history of the community. Onarga is the final resting place of Civil War spy and Pinkerton detective Timothy Webster. Onarga was also the location of

Allan Pinkerton Allan J. Pinkerton (August 25, 1819 – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the United States and his claim to have foiled a plot in 1861 to a ...

's weekend estate, The Larches.

Business

Onarga has a golf course, several restaurants, and Lake Arrowhead. The only movie theater in Iroquois County is in Onarga.

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 in ...

of 2000, there were 1,438 people, 475 households, and 342 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 525 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 71.21%

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, 2.23%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.35% Native American, 0.21%

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, 24.41% from

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, and 1.60% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 35.26% of the population. There were 475 households, out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.8% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the average family size was 3.42. In the village, the population was spread out, with 33.1% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $35,852, and the median income for a family was $46,016. Males had a median income of $31,146 versus $19,732 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 $13,623. About 8.0% of families and 10.9% 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 17.1% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Iroquois County, Illinois Villages in Illinois Populated places established in 1854 1854 establishments in Illinois