St. Francisville or Saint Francisville is a city in Lawrence County,

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 ...

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 territorie ...

. The population was 697 at the 2010 census.

History

St. Francisville is rooted in a

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

built by Joseph Tougas in the early 1810s. The city was platted by Tougas's widow in the mid-1830s. It was named for St. Francis Xavier, reflecting the growing influence of

Jesuit missionaries , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

in the area. The city incorporated in 1873.Edward Callary,
Place Names of Illinois
' (University of Illinois Press, 2010), p. 333.

Geography

St. Francisville is located in southeastern Lawrence County in the southeast corner of Denison Township. It is on the west bank of the

Wabash River The Wabash River ( French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows fro ...

, which forms the state border with

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 ...

. The city is south of Lawrenceville, the

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 ...

. The Wabash Cannon Ball Bridge, northeast of St. Francisville, is a former railroad bridge that is now a one-lane toll bridge over the

which provides the most direct route to

Vincennes, Indiana Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the lower Wabash River in the Southwestern Indiana, southwestern part of the state, nearly halfway between Evansville, Indi ...

, to the northeast. According to the 2010 census, St. Francisville has a total area of , of which (or 95.66%) is land and (or 4.34%) is water.

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 incl ...

of 2000, there were 759 people, 317 households, and 221 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 348 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 99.21%

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 ...

, and 0.66% from two or more races. There were 317 households, out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.0% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.89. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% 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 90.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,543, and the median income for a family was $29,688. Males had a median income of $30,417 versus $15,938 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 city was $12,955. About 19.7% of families and 21.1% 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 41.4% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2010 the population of St. Francisville was 697.

Economy

St. Francisville is noted for a locally grown variety of

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

, trademarked as "Black Jewell" for the color of the corn kernels. The popcorn packer attributes the varietal snack food to development work in the "mid 1960s."

Notable person

Julian Morgenstern Julian Morgenstern (March 18, 1881 – December 4, 1976) was a Jewish-American rabbi, Bible scholar, and president of Hebrew Union College. Life Morgenstern was born on March 18, 1881 in St. Francisville, Illinois, the son of Samuel Morgenstern ...

(1881–1976), rabbi, professor, and president of

Hebrew Union College Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, born in St. Francisville * William Phipps, retired actor and film producer, moved to St. Francisville when he was six, and grew up there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Francisville, Illinois Cities in Lawrence County, Illinois Cities in Illinois