Stockton is a village in

Jo Daviess County Jo Daviess County () is the northwesternmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 22,678. Its county seat is Galena. Jo Daviess County is part of the Tri-State Area and is located near D ...

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 United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The population was 1,862 at the 2010 census, down from 1,926 at the 2000 census.

History

The village of Stockton is the youngest village in Jo Daviess County. It was established after the Minnesota Northwestern Railroad decided to build a station in Section 2 of Stockton Township in 1886, which through mergers later became named the

Chicago Great Western Railway The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesot ...

. The railroad tracks were removed in the early 1970s.Huddleston, Jerry.
CGW's Winston Tunnel
, accessed Apr 7, 2009. What is now Front Street in Stockton was then a dirt road which served as the main thoroughfare to

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

. In April 1887, one Charles Hermann became Stockton's first business owner.Donth, Cynthia.
W.E. White Building
, ( PDF), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, June 27, 1997, ''

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...

'', accessed May 4, 2008. In 1914, the Kraft Brothers opened a cheese factory in Stockton, and operated it until Kraft sold the facility in 1998.StocktonIL.com
Stockton History
", accessed Apr 7, 2009.KraftFoodsCompany.com
History of Kraft Foods
", accessed 7-Apr-2009. This was the birthplace of the Kraft Corporation and the first cheese plant opened by J.L. Kraft.

Geography

Stockton is located at (42.350357, -90.006127). According to the 2010 census, Stockton has a total area of , all land.

Climate

Major highways

U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

, east towards Freeport and west towards Galena. *

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 description J ...

, north towards

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

and the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

state line and south towards Mount Carroll.

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 1,926 people, 831 households, and 521 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 894 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 99.69%

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 o ...

, 0.05% Native American, 0.05%

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 ...

, and 0.21% 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 0.42% of the population. There were 831 households, out of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.2% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.83. In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.1% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 22.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $35,921, and the median income for a family was $43,173. Males had a median income of $28,594 versus $23,026 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 $17,728. About 4.5% of families and 8.2% 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 8.2% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Geology

Stockton is not part of the

Driftless Area The Driftless Area, a topographical and cultural region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. Never covered by ice during the las ...

, but is the first municipality found outside of it, coming from western

. One climbs out of the valley of the

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. History In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper ...

and finds a high point in Stockton. The village water tower sits on a ridge at elevation 1,105 ft (337 m) that rises to 1,120 ft (341 m) to the west at the village limits. To the northwest the same ridge line continues where U.S. Route 20 crests at 1,077 ft (337 m) just to the west. This ridge line continues for 3 miles to the northwest to Benton Mound (1,204 ft, 367 m), the second highest peak in Illinois.

Notable people

* Leo Binz, archbishop of Dubuque and St. Paul and Minneapolis, was born in Stockton. * Ron Lawfer, farmer and Illinois legislator, was born in Stockton.'Illinois Blue Book 1997-1998,' Biographical Sketch of I. Ronald Lawfer, pg. 107 *

Dennis Gage ''My Classic Car'' is a television show about classic automobiles, hosted by Dennis Gage. It was originally broadcast on TNN, and Speed Channel, followed by MAVtv and Velocity. As of 2019 the show airs on the Motor Trend network. It was produce ...

, host of the television show My Classic Car, grew up in Stockton.

Historical landmarks

* Townsend Home * W.E. White Building

References

External links

Jo Daviess County
{{authority control Villages in Jo Daviess County, Illinois Villages in Illinois Driftless Area Populated places established in 1886