Pope County is the southeasternmost

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 sover ...

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 ...

. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,763, making it the second-least populous county in Illinois. Its

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 ...

Golconda Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...

. The county was organized in 1816 from portions of Gallatin and Johnson counties and named after

Nathaniel Pope Nathaniel W. Pope (January 5, 1784 – January 23, 1850) was an American government leader in the early history of the State of Illinois. He served as the Secretary of the Illinois Territory, then as a Delegate to the United States House of Repres ...

, a politician and jurist from the

Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ca ...

and State of Illinois.

History

The first permanent settlement in future Pope County was established in 1798 at the modern-day site of

, then a part of 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 unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

which operated as a ferry point across the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

. The county was formed in 1816 from portions of Gallatin and Johnson Counties. File:Pope County Illinois 1816.png, Pope County from the time of its creation in 1816 to 1839 File:Pope County Illinois 1839.png, Pope County between 1839 and 1843 File:Pope County Illinois 1843.png, Pope County between 1843 and 1847 File:Pope County Illinois 1847.png, In 1847, Pope's border with Hardin County was adjusted, bringing both to their present borders Nathaniel Pope

Geography

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 county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.5%) is water. The entire county is hilly and during rainy weather rivulets cascade down the hills in the park forming

waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

of varying sizes and heights. The county contains

Dixon Springs State Park Dixon Springs State Park is an Illinois state park in Pope County, Illinois, United States, and is one of several state parks in the Illinois Shawnee Hills. The park is on a giant block of rock which was dropped along a fault that extends ...

, one of many state parks in the Illinois Shawnee Hills, and is part of the

Shawnee National Forest The Shawnee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, United States. Administered by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, it consists of approximately 280,000 acres (1,100 km²) ...

. It is bordered to the south and east by the

, which marks the state's border with

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Golconda have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in August 2007. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in October to in May.

Major highways

Illinois Route 34 Illinois Route 34 (IL 34) is a north–south state road in southern Illinois. It runs from a former ferry crossing to Kentucky Route 297 across the Ohio River in Rosiclare to Illinois Routes 14/ 37 in Benton. This is a distance of . Rou ...

Illinois Route 145 Illinois Route 145 is a north–south state road in southern Illinois. It splits off from U.S. Route 45 near Metropolis (across the Ohio River from Paducah, Kentucky) and runs north, rejoining U.S. 45 in Harrisburg. This is a distance of . ...

* Illinois Route 146 *

Illinois Route 147 Illinois Route 147 is an east–west state road in southern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 146 east of Vienna (very near an interchange with Interstate 24) to Illinois Route 145 in Glendale. This is a distance of . Route descriptio ...

Adjacent counties

* Saline County - north * Hardin County - east * Livingston County,

- southeast * Massac County - southwest * Johnson County - west * Williamson County - northwest

National protected area

(part)

Demographics

As of the 2010 census, there were 4,470 people, 1,829 households, and 1,209 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 2,491 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.7% white, 6.0% black or African American, 0.6% American Indian, 0.2% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 31.8% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, 19.1% were

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, 11.4% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and 5.4% were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. Of the 1,829 households, 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.9% were non-families, and 29.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.72. The median age was 46.6 years. The median income for a household in the county was $39,672 and the median income for a family was $51,500. Males had a median income of $45,865 versus $28,519 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,134. About 6.6% of families and 12.4% 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 18.4% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

In its early days Pope County, being strongly Southern in its culture and opposed to

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, was powerfully Democratic, giving a majority to that party in every pre-war Presidential election. However, during the Civil War, under the influence of Congressman

John A. Logan John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a st ...

, this region of dubious initial loyalty was to provide a number of Union soldiers rivalled on a per capita basis only by a few fiercely Unionist counties in

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which wa ...

in 1860 remains the last Democrat to win a majority of the county's vote, although

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

won pluralities in both 1992 and 1996 due to

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...

siphoning votes from Republican opponents George Bush senior and

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...

. Hillary Clinton in 2016 fared extremely poorly, carrying fewer than eighteen percent of Pope County's votes.Cohn, Nate
‘Demographic Shift: Southern Whites’ Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats’
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', April 24, 2014

Communities

City

Village

* Eddyville

Unincorporated communities

* Allens Spring * Bay City *

Brownfield In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

* Dixon Springs *

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

* Hamletsburg * Herod * Homberg * Lusk's Ferry * McCormick * New Liberty * Rising Sun

Notable people

* James Lusk Alcorn (1816-1894), born near Golconda, American Civil War general in the Confederate Army *

John R. Hodge General John Reed Hodge (June 12, 1893 – November 12, 1963) was a highly decorated senior officer of the United States Army. His final assignment before retiring was as Chief of Army Field Forces from 1952 to 1953. Early life and career Born ...

(1893-1963), born in Golconda; Military Governor of South Korea preceding the Korean War and Commanding General of the U.S. Third Army * C. L. McCormick (1919-1987), born in McCormick, Illinois state representative and businessman * Green B. Raum (1820-1909), born in Golconda, American Civil War general in the Union Army *

James A. Rose James Alexander Rose (October 13, 1850 – May 29, 1912) was an American politician and educator. Biography Born in Golconda, Pope County, Illinois, Rose went to Illinois Normal State University in Normal, Illinois. He taught school in Pope ...

(1850-1912), born in Golconda, Illinois Secretary of State *

Mason Ramsey Mason Ramsey (born November 16, 2006) is an American singer. In March 2018, after gaining Internet fame from a viral video of him yodeling " Lovesick Blues" by Hank Williams at a Walmart, Ramsey was signed to Big Loud. He is known for his singl ...

(2006-), born in Golconda, star of viral video “Walmart Kid Singing” and country singer

References

External links

* http://genealogytrails.com/ill/pope/cohist.htm * http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/shawnee {{Coord, 37.41, -88.57, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 Illinois counties 1816 establishments in Illinois Territory Populated places established in 1816 Illinois counties on the Ohio River

Pope County, Illinois Pope County is the southeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,763, making it the second-least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Golconda. The county was organize ...

Pre-statehood history of Illinois