Williamson County is a

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 ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...

. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 67,153. The largest city and

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 ...

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

. Williamson County is included in the Carbondale-Marion, IL

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

. This area of Southern Illinois is known locally as "Little Egypt". Williamson is in the Metro Lakeland area, southeast of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Via the nearby intersection of Interstates 57 and 24, and Illinois Route 13, a primary east–west four-lane expressway, the city has access to the major communities of Murphysboro, Carbondale, Carterville, Herrin,

and

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

. The Metro Lakeland area of Jackson-Williamson counties has a total of 120,000 residents. Carbondale (14 miles west), Herrin and Marion are the key urban areas in

Metro Lakeland Metro Lakeland is a name that was coined in the 1960s for an area of southern Illinois that is centered on the intersections of Interstate 57, Interstate 24, and Illinois Route 13 — a four-lane east-west highway connecting the communities of M ...

, with a combined population of more than 65,000. Over 235,000 people live within .

History

Williamson County was formed from Franklin County on February 28, 1839, and was named for Williamson County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Many of its settlers were from the Uplands South, traveling via 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 ...

from Kentucky and Virginia. File:Williamson County Illinois 1839.png, Williamson County at the time of its creation in 1839 It became a center of coal mining, attracting numerous European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Labor tensions rose as workers sought to unionize and improve their wages and conditions. Mine owners resisted and several episodes of violence resulted during strikes and other work actions. resulted in several episodes of violence. Williamson County is often referred to as "Bloody Williamson," due to several outbreaks of violence that have few parallels in American history. These include the Bloody Vendetta (1876), armed confrontation between families and associates during the waning days of Reconstruction; the Carterville Massacre (1899), a Coal Strike (1906), the Herrin Massacre (1922), the Klan War (1924–1926), and the

Birger Birger is a Scandinavian name from Old Norse, ''bjarga'', meaning "to help, to save, to protect". It is widely used in Norway as Birger but also as Børge. The Swedish variant of ''Birger'' would soon evolve into ''Börje'', however, the prior for ...

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...

Gang War (1926). During the so-called Klan War, a mob of perhaps 1,300 men were deputized by the local sheriff. Starting on 1 February 1924, the posse began raiding the homes of local mine workers, mostly Italian immigrants. The Klan was inspired by both nativist and Prohibitionist fervor. Violence continued sporadically between bootleggers and the Klan. Twenty people were killed before peace was restored. In June 1915, a Sicilian miner accused of the fatal shooting of a wealthy local resident was lynched in

Johnston City, Illinois Johnston City is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,348 at the 2020 census. This was a center of coal mining in the early 20th century, having a peak of population in the 1920s. The mining jobs attracted man ...

by a mob."SLAYER LYNCHED BY ILLINOIS MOB"
''Belvidere Daily Republican'' (Belvidere, Illinois), 11 June 1915; accessed 2 February 2017 The Illinois National Guard was deployed to prevent rioting between the miner's supporters and opponents. They were also later ordered to various locations repeatedly during the 1920s to separate warring parties and attempt to keep order. The northwest section of the county suffered extensive damage during the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. The county was also struck by two

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 ...

es on May 29, 1982, which killed 10 people in the

Marion, Illinois tornado outbreak The Marion, Illinois tornado outbreak was a small, severe tornado outbreak that affected southern portions of the Midwestern United States on May 29, 1982. Tornadoes touched down in the states of Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana, with Marion, Illi ...

. On May 8, 2009, the cities of Carterville, Herrin, and Marion were severely damaged by the May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho.

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 (5.4%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Franklin County (north) * Saline County (east) * Pope County (southeast) * Johnson County (south) * Union County (southwest) * Jackson County (west)

National protected area

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is a 43,890 acre (180 km2) National Wildlife Refuge primarily in southwestern Williamson County, Illinois, Williamson County, but with small extensions into adjacent eastern Jackson County, Illinois, Jac ...

(part)

Major highways

Interstate 24 Interstate 24 (I-24) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from I-57, south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75. It travels through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, ...

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 ...

U.S. Highway 45 *

Illinois Route 13 Illinois Route 13 (IL 13) is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentuck ...

Illinois Route 37 Illinois Route 37, Illinois 37 or IL 37, is a north–south state highway in southern Illinois. IL 37's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and IL 3 in Cairo and the northern terminus is at US 45 in Watson. Route ...

Illinois Route 148 Illinois Route 148 is a north–south state road in southern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 37 at Pulleys Mill (near the intersection of Interstate 24 and Interstate 57) north to the western terminus of Illinois Route 142 and Illinois ...

Illinois Route 149 Illinois Route 149 is an east–west state road in southern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 3 near Grimsby east to Illinois Route 34 in Thompsonville. This is a distance of . Route description Illinois 149 runs east–west thro ...

Illinois Route 166 Illinois Route 166 (IL 166) is a north–south state road in southern Illinois, United States. The route runs from its southern terminus at U.S. Route 45 in New Burnside to its northern terminus at Illinois Route 13 east of Marion. Route 166 se ...

Transit

List of intercity bus stops in Illinois The following is a list of presently operating intercity bus stops in Illinois with regular service. The list excludes charter buses, local transit buses, paratransit systems, and trolleybus systems. The following companies provide intercity bus se ...

Airport

Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois , also known as Williamson County Regional Airport, is five miles west of Marion, in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The airport is owned by the Williamson County Airport Authority. It sees one ...

in Marion is the local airport.

Demographics

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, there were 66,357 people, 27,421 households, and 17,999 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 30,359 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 92.7% white, 3.8% black or African American, 0.8% Asian, 0.4% Native American , 0.5% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.6% 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 **Ge ...

, 17.3% 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 ...

, 16.0% 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 ...

, 9.0% 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 ...

, and 6.1% were

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. Of the 27,421 households, 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.4% were non-families, and 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.88. The median age was 40.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $40,579 and the median income for a family was $50,929. Males had a median income of $41,428 versus $30,901 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,164. About 13.3% of families and 16.7% 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 24.3% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

United States Penitentiary, Marion The United States Penitentiary, Marion (USP Marion) is a large medium-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of P ...

is located in Southern Precinct in Williamson County.

Politics

Williamson County has been solidly Republican on the national level, voting for the Republican candidates for U.S. president since 2000.

Climate and weather

Williamson County lies on the border between

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dfa'') and

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

''Cfa''), with neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature. It is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

and, along with the rest of the midwestern United States, is home to some of the largest temperature extremes in the world. The region has four distinct

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

. Spring is the wettest season and produces erratic severe weather ranging from

es to

winter storm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessa ...

s. Summers are hot and humid, with only occasional and brief respite, and the humidity often makes the

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the shade. The result is als ...

rise to temperatures feeling well above . Fall is mild with lower humidity and can produce intermittent bouts of heavy rainfall, with the first

snow flurries A snow flurry is a light snowfall that results in little or no snow accumulation. The US National Weather Service defines snow flurries as intermittent light snow that produces no measurable precipitation (trace amounts). In contrast, bursts of s ...

usually forming in late November. Winters are cold with periodic snow and temperatures often below freezing; however, thaws are usually frequent. Winter storm systems, such as

Alberta clipper An Alberta clipper, also known as an Alberta low, Alberta cyclone, Alberta lee cyclone, Canadian clipper, or simply clipper, is a fast-moving low-pressure system that originates in or near the Canadian province of Alberta just east of the Rock ...

s and

Panhandle hook A panhandle hook (also called a pan handle hook or Texas hooker) is a relatively infrequent winter storm system whose cyclogenesis occurs in the South to southwestern United States from the late fall through winter and into the early Spring (seaso ...

s, can bring days of heavy

freezing rain Freezing rain is rain maintained at temperatures below freezing by the ambient air mass that causes freezing on contact with surfaces. Unlike a mixture of rain and snow or ice pellets, freezing rain is made entirely of liquid droplets. The rain ...

ice pellets Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small, hard, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets are different from graupel ("soft hail") which is made of frosty white opaque rime, and from a mixture of rain and snow which is a slushy ...

, and

snowfall Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

. The normal high temperature in July is 90 °F (32 °C), and the normal low temperature in January is 19 °F (−6 °C), although this varies from year to year. Both and temperatures can be seen on an average 2 or 3 days per year. In recent years, average temperatures have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1977 and a record high of was recorded in August 1977. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in October to in May. Williamson County has

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

s about 50 days a year on average. Thunderstorms contribute over half of the annual precipitation. Especially in the spring, these storms can often be severe, with high winds, large

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

and tornadoes. Some late autumns feature the warm weather known as

Indian summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...

; some years see roses in bloom as late as early December.

Communities

Cities

* Carbondale (mostly in Jackson County) (62901), (62902), (62903) * Carterville (62918) * Creal Springs (62922) * Herrin (62948) *

Hurst Hurst may refer to: Places England * Hurst, Berkshire, a village * Hurst, North Yorkshire, a hamlet * Hurst, a settlement within the village of Martock, Somerset * Hurst, West Sussex, a hamlet * Hurst Spit, a shingle spit in Hampshire ** Hurs ...

(62949) * Johnston City (62951) *

(seat) (partly in Johnson County) (62922), (62959)

Villages

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

(62924) *

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity). It emerged later, in the medieval period, ...

(62915) * Colp (62921) * Crainville (62918) *

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

(62933) * Freeman Spur (partly in Franklin County) (62841) * Pittsburg (62974) * Spillertown (62959) * Stonefort (mostly in Saline County) (62987)

Census-designated places

* Crab Orchard (62959) * Whiteash (62959)

Other unincorporated communities

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

(62974) * Blairsville (62918) *

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

(62890) *

Crenshaw Crenshaw may refer to: Places in the United States *Crenshaw, Los Angeles **Crenshaw High School *Crenshaw County, Alabama *Crenshaw, Mississippi *Crenshaw, Pennsylvania Transportation *Crenshaw Boulevard *Crenshaw station (C Line, Los Angeles Met ...

(62959) * Dewmaine (62918) * Dog Walk (62959) * Dykersburg (62987) * Fergestown (62959) * Hudgens (62959) * New Dennison (62959) * No. 9 (62921) * Paineville (62948) * Palzo (62922) *

Paulton Paulton () is a large village and civil parish, with a population of 5,302, located to the north of the Mendip Hills, very close to Norton Radstock in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), England. Paulton is a forme ...

(62974) * Pulleys Mill (62939) * Stiritz (62896) * Willeford (62922)

Ghost towns

* Chamness (62959) * Clifford (62918) * Dewmaine (62918) * Halfway (62974) * Halfway (Little Juarez)

Precincts

The following precincts are not voting precincts, but represent the 12

Congressional township A survey township, sometimes called a Congressional township or just township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System, is a nominally-square area of land that is nominally six U.S. survey miles (about 9.66 km) on a side. E ...

s in Williamson County. Most have multiple voting precincts. * Blairsville * Carterville *

* Crab Orchard * Creal Springs * East Marion * Grassy * Herrin * Lake Creek * Southern * Stonefort * West Marion

Education

School districts include:
Text list
/ref> K-12: * Carrier Mills-Stonefort Community Unit School District * Carterville Community Unit School District 5 * Crab Orchard Community Unit School District 3 *

Frankfort Community Unit School District 168 Frankfort may refer to: Places Germany * Frankfurt am Main, alternative name. "Frankfort" is the form of the name in the Hessian and Palatine dialects which are spoken in the region where Frankfurt is located. South Africa * Frankfort, Eas ...

* Galatia Community Unit School District 1 * Herrin Community Unit School District 4 * Johnston City Community Unit School District 1 *

Marion Community Unit School District 2 Marion Community Unit School District 2 is a school district headquartered in Marion, Illinois Marion is a city in Williamson and Johnson Counties, Illinois, United States, and is the county seat of Williamson County. The population was 16, ...

* Zeigler-Royalton Community Unit School District 188 Secondary: * Carbondale Community High School District 165 *

Vienna High School District 133 en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Elementary: * Giant City Community Consolidated School District 130 * New Simpson Hill Consolidated District 32