Equality is a village in Gallatin County,

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. The population was 595 at the 2010 census, down from 721 at the 2000 census. Near the village are two points of interest, the Crenshaw House and the

Garden of the Gods Wilderness The Garden of the Gods Wilderness is a parcel of land listed as a Wilderness Area of the United States. It is located within the Shawnee National Forest in Hardin, Pope, Saline, and Gallatin counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The neares ...

. Equality was the county seat of Gallatin County from 1826–1851.

History

On Jan. 26, 1826, Equality was officially established by the General Assembly as the county seat of Gallatin County. The courthouse was built in 1827 for the amount of $1,300.00 dollars. Court was held there until 1851, when all legal documents were removed to Shawneetown, The building was later used as a school, church & local society meetings. It was destroyed by fire Nov. 28, 1894.

Salt Works

French settlers extracted salt near Equality as early as 1735, while Native Americans made salt here long before then. In 1803, the American Indians ceded their " Great Salt Springs" to the US government by treaty. The government then leased the springs, requiring the holder to produce a certain quantity of salt each year or pay a penalty. The salt works is referred to as the "United States Saline" in old documents.

Isaac White Isaac White may refer to: * Isaac White (militia colonel), colonel in the Illinois militia * Isaac D. White Isaac Davis White (March 6, 1901 – June 11, 1990) was a senior officer in the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Army, Pacif ...

was in charge of the salt works in 1811. White volunteered for the Indiana Militia that year, and was killed at the

Battle of Tippecanoe The Battle of Tippecanoe ( ) was fought on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces led by then Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecum ...

. Special territorial laws permitted exceptions to anti-slavery treaties at these salines, and slaves were used extensively in manufacturing salt. The census of 1820 for Gallatin County listed 239 slaves or servants. During the 1820s, Gallatin County included what is now Saline County as its western half. In 1826, the

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was moved from Old Shawneetown, on the eastern edge of the county, to the new village of Equality, near the center of what was then Gallatin County. Equality remained the county seat until the formation of Saline County in 1847. In 1838, a local salt maker and illegal slave trader kidnapper and illegal slave breeder, John Hart Crenshaw, began building his manor house at Hickory Hill just five miles east of Equality; he used the house for his business of kidnapping free blacks and breeding slaves to sell into slavery as part of the

Reverse Underground Railroad The Reverse Underground Railroad is the name given, sardonically, to the pre-American Civil War practice of kidnapping in free states not only fugitive slaves but free blacks as well, transporting them to slave states, and selling them as sla ...

. The Great Salt Springs are located southeast of Equality, on federal land along the south bank of the Saline River, seven-tenths of a mile west of Illinois Route 1 on Salt Well Road. Half Moon Lick, where the saltworks first developed as a large industry, is on private property southwest of Equality. Salineriverilscenic

Geography

Equality is located in western Gallatin County at (37.736472, -88.344473), on the north side of the Saline River, a southeast-flowing tributary of the Ohio River. According to the 2010 census, Equality has a total area of , of which (or 98.23%) is land and (or 1.77%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

, there were 721 people, 315 households, and 206 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 333 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 99.17%

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 ...

, 0.14% from

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, and 0.69% from two or more races.

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of any race were 1.66% of the population. There were 315 households, out of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.90. In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.3% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 17.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males. The median income for a household in the village was $22,171, and the median income for a family was $27,625. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $18,214 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 $12,961. About 14.0% of families and 20.7% 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 21.4% of those under age 18 and 22.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

* Stu Fliege. 2002. ''Trails & Tales of Illinois''. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. * Jon Musgrave. 2005. ''Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw''. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com. * Gillum Ferguson. 2007. ''The Perilous Infancy of Saline County'', Journal of Illinois History, Vol. 10, p. 49.

External links