Roxana is a village in
Madison County, Illinois
Madison County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a part of the Metro East in southern Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 264,776, making it the eighth-most populous county in Illinois and the most popu ...
, United States. The population was 1,542 at the 2010 census.
A majority of the land in Roxana is taken up by the
Wood River Refinery
The Wood River Refinery is an oil refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately north of St. Louis, Missouri, on the east side of the Mississippi River. The refinery is currently owned by Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and operated by the ...
, an
oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...
operated by
Phillips 66
The Phillips 66 Company is an American Multinational corporation, multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Westchase, Houston, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Compan ...
. The refinery was originally built and owned by
Shell Oil. As of 2016, the refinery is capable of refining of oil per day to produce
gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
,
jet fuel
Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...
,
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
,
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
,
propane
Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...
, and other products, and supplies part of the
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
and
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 ...
regions.
Roxana is considered to be part of the
Riverbend portion of the
Metro East
Metro East is a region in southern Illinois that contains eastern and northern suburbs and exurbs of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It encompasses five Southern Illinois counties (and parts of three others) in the St. Louis Metropolitan Stati ...
area, including
Alton
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
*Alton (surname)
Places Australia
*Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
*Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zealand, ...
,
East Alton,
Godfrey,
Rosewood Heights,
Bethalto,
Wood River Wood River may refer to:
Rivers In Canada
* Wood River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Columbia River via Kinbasket Lake
* Wood River (Saskatchewan), a river in south-west Saskatchewan
In Ireland
* Wood River (County Clare), Kilru ...
,
Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
and
South Roxana. It is well known for its bright Christmas lights lining
Illinois Route 111
Illinois Route 111 (IL 111) is an north–south state highway in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. It travels from Short Street (near Lake Drive and northwest of Interstate 255) in Centreville to IL 104 ...
, its main street, throughout the holiday season each year. The zip code for Roxana is 62084.
History
In 1918,
Shell Oil Company
Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...
opened its
Wood River Refinery
The Wood River Refinery is an oil refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately north of St. Louis, Missouri, on the east side of the Mississippi River. The refinery is currently owned by Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and operated by the ...
in what was then called Wood River Field, an area south of the city of
Wood River Wood River may refer to:
Rivers In Canada
* Wood River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Columbia River via Kinbasket Lake
* Wood River (Saskatchewan), a river in south-west Saskatchewan
In Ireland
* Wood River (County Clare), Kilru ...
. As houses began being built close to the refinery, the population there grew to the point that, in 1921, this unincorporated area became the incorporated Village of Roxana.
The origin of the village's name is unknown. Local lore is that the name "Roxana" was chosen to honor a "Queen Roxanne" of the Netherlands, inasmuch as the village owed its very existence to Netherlands-state-owned
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
. But there had never been a Queen Roxanne of the Netherlands. The Dutch monarch at the time was
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War ...
. However, Royal Dutch/Shell Group also founded Roxana Petroleum Company in 1912 in
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
to explore for and produce
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
.
Subsequently Shell built refineries near
in 1916, at Wood River in 1918, and parallel with US Route 20 across
Hammond and
East Chicago
East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing act ...
in
Lake County, Indiana
Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2020, its population was 498,700, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. The county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropo ...
in 1926. The Hammond-East Chicago refinery was linked directly by pipeline to Wood River and resulted in the residential neighborhood of
Roxana
Roxana (c. 340 BC – 310 BC, grc, Ῥωξάνη; Old Iranian: ''*Raṷxšnā-'' "shining, radiant, brilliant"; sometimes Roxanne, Roxanna, Rukhsana, Roxandra and Roxane) was a Sogdian or a Bactrian princess whom Alexander the Great married a ...
adjacent to it.
Originally constructed on , the refinery now covers approximately . Phillips 66 acquired it, the largest in its system, in the early 2000's.
A
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
church was organized in September 1921, and the land where the current First Baptist Church of Roxana now stands, at the corner of Tydeman Street and Central Avenue, was purchased in early 1922. The first services were held there on December 3, 1922. J.A. Wilson served as the church's first pastor.
A formal
village hall
A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as:
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...
, called for by a vote for a "Municipal Building", was built on $36,000 worth of bonds in 1938. It currently houses Roxana's Village President, Treasurer, Water Department, and Clerk's offices, the fire and police departments, the village board room, and a municipal gymnasium.
In the early 1940s, a large
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
-style theater was built at the northwest corner of Thomas Street and Central Avenue, at 400 N. Central Avenue. To the south across Thomas Street used to sit Burbank School, built in 1936 (torn down in 2009), and at the southeast corner of the intersection lay Roxana Drug Store.
Seating approximately 580 people, the theater was originally designed for
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
acts as well as movie showings. In 1949, a
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
tore the roof off, but after repairs were made, the theater reopened. In the late 1960s, it was closed for nearly two years before being sold in June 1968 from the estate of Albert Critchlow to Bloomer Amusement Co. of Belleville. It was thereafter operated as "BAC Cine" for many years. In 1992, the Cine was purchased by Kerasotes Theatres, Inc., of
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...
, which operated it until its closing in February 2002.
In 2000, the theatre was purchased from Kerasotes and was donated to the Roxana
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene is an evangelical Christian denomination that emerged in North America from the 19th-century Wesleyan-Holiness movement within Methodism. It is headquartered in Lenexa within Johnson County, Kansas. With its members co ...
, which is located just north of the theatre. The church now operates the building as the Nazarene Community Center, where it is available for rental and group events.
Geography
Roxana is located at (38.838397, -90.063653).
According to the 2010 census, Roxana has a total area of , of which (or 98.21%) is land and (or 1.79%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census
of 2000, there were 1,547 people, 655 households, and 436 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 697 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 98.51%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 0.13%
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 ...
, 0.26%
Native American, 0.26%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.39% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 0.45% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, 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 Vic ...
or
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 0.65% of the population.
There were 655 households, out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the village, the age distribution of the population shows 23.4% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.8 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $38,800, and the median income for a family was $45,500. Males had a median income of $40,078 versus $27,045 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 $20,511. About 2.5% of families and 3.8% 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 3.0% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Located within the village is
Roxana High School
Roxana High School is a secondary school in Roxana, Illinois, United States. The school's mascot is the shell, named for the former Shell Oil (now ConocoPhillips) refinery also located in the town. The school district encompasses all of Roxana, ...
. The school district is served by two elementary schools, though only one is located within the village limits of Roxana. Central Elementary School is in Roxana, while South Roxana Elementary School is within
South Roxana. The former Burbank Elementary School, located at the corner of Thomas Street and Central Avenue, closed in 1984 and was demolished in 2009.
Nearby colleges and universities include
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...
,
Principia College
Principia College (Principia or Prin) is a private liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. It was founded in 1912 by Mary Kimball Morgan with the purpose of "serving the Cause of Christian Science." "Although the College is not affiliated wit ...
, a four-year private college in
Elsah, and
Lewis and Clark Community College
Lewis and Clark Community College is a public community college in Godfrey, Illinois. It serves approximately 15,000 credit and non-credit students annually. The college has nine locations throughout the St. Louis Metro East, including a campu ...
in
Godfrey. The Dental School of
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois.
Board of trustees
The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...
is located close by in the city of
Alton
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
*Alton (surname)
Places Australia
*Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
*Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zealand, ...
.
Roxana Park
In May 1934, a village ordinance was passed creating a Recreation Board that would develop a plan for activities and playground sites, establish a budget and employ a Supervisor to manage the operation. In 1938, Village Hall was constructed which included a gymnasium for recreational activities. The first meeting of the Village Board in the newly constructed Village Hall was held on Wednesday, February 1, 1939. Village Hall, consisting of the gym, fire department, police department and other village offices, is located at the intersection of Central Avenue and West Third Street.
In 1947, land was purchased for the purpose of park and recreation facilities, and a
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
diamond was constructed. The park is located in the northeastern part of the village, to the north and east of Roxana High School.
In 1952, the Park District was incorporated, followed by the addition of a public
swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
in 1957. Adjacent to the pool was a recreation area which included
trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled spring (device), springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. ...
s,
miniature golf and donkey cart rides.
In 1959, additional land was purchased, and a house was acquired from
Shell Oil Company
Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...
and moved to the property. This was the original meeting place of many community groups. When the house became too small to accommodate the needs of the people, the Rox-Arena was constructed in 1969. For many years, Roxana Park Director Lyle Dona lived in this house within the park.
In the years following,
picnic shelter
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
s were added along with additional ball fields, concession stand, soccer field, playgrounds and bike/walking paths. The main park now is home to four
baseball diamond
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...
s—the High School Diamond, the Lighted Diamond, the South Diamond and the Picnic Diamond.
In 1993, Burbank Park was purchased from the school district. It now contains a baseball diamond, playground, picnic shelter, soccer field, and basketball court. It is the site of the annual Roxana Homecoming Festival held each May.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Park District, a new pool house was constructed in 2002.
Transportation
Roxana is served by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
in
Alton
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
*Alton (surname)
Places Australia
*Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
*Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zealand, ...
,
St. Louis Regional Airport (formerly known as Civic Memorial Airport) in
Bethalto, and
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
St. Louis Lambert International Airport is the primary commercial airport serving metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it is the largest and busiest airport in the state of ...
.
The nearest interstate highway is
Interstate 270, approximately to the south, although
Illinois Route 255
Illinois Route 255 (IL 255), also referred to as the Alton Bypass, is a northwesterly extension of Interstate 255 (I-255) in southwestern Illinois in the St. Louis metropolitan area. IL 255 starts at I-270 in Pontoon Beach and ...
is a
controlled access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
, meeting federal interstate standards. Easy access can be had to
Interstate 55
Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...
,
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 in ...
and
Interstate 64
Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange w ...
.
Illinois Route 111
Illinois Route 111 (IL 111) is an north–south state highway in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. It travels from Short Street (near Lake Drive and northwest of Interstate 255) in Centreville to IL 104 ...
(Central Avenue) is the main route through Roxana. It is a four-lane, non-divided highway through the village, and boasts the only two stoplights in town (located at its intersections with Thomas Street and Tydeman Street).
Illinois Route 255
Illinois Route 255 (IL 255), also referred to as the Alton Bypass, is a northwesterly extension of Interstate 255 (I-255) in southwestern Illinois in the St. Louis metropolitan area. IL 255 starts at I-270 in Pontoon Beach and ...
was completed in 1998 and runs through the eastern portion of the village limits, east of the
Wood River refinery
The Wood River Refinery is an oil refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately north of St. Louis, Missouri, on the east side of the Mississippi River. The refinery is currently owned by Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and operated by the ...
. Although the village has plans to develop the area near Route 255, this has not yet occurred.
Notable person
*
Harry Gallatin
Harry Junior "The Horse" Gallatin (April 26, 1927 – October 7, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach. Gallatin played nine seasons for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1948 to 1957 ...
, forward and center with the
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...
, and coach with the
St. Louis Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...
and
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
See also
*
List of oil pipelines
This is a list of oil pipelines.
Africa
* Chad–Cameroon pipeline – Chad–Cameroon
* Sudeth pipeline – South Sudan–Ethiopia (under construction)
* Transnet Pipelines – South Africa
* Sumed pipeline – Egypt
* Tazama Pipeline – Tanzan ...
*
List of oil refineries
*
Roxana (East Chicago)
Roxana, sometimes spelled Roxanna, is a neighborhood in southwestern East Chicago, Indiana, south of the Grand Calumet River and north of Michigan Street. It is the only East Chicago neighborhood located south of the Grand Calumet. As of 2013, it ...
References
External links
Village of Roxana official websiteRoxana Community Unit School District #1Wood River Refinery History MuseumRoxana Community Park District
{{Riverbend, state=collapsed
Villages in Madison County, Illinois
Villages in Illinois
Populated places established in 1921