O'Fallon is a city in St. Clair 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 2020 census listed the population at 32,289. The city is the second largest city in 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 ...

region and

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 ...

. It sits from

Scott Air Force Base Scott Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville and O'Fallon, east-southeast of downtown St. Louis. Scott Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the U ...

and from Downtown St Louis. Like its namesake in St. Charles County, Missouri, O'Fallon is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. This makes O'Fallon (along with the two Troys in

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

) one of the few pairs of like-named municipalities to be part of the same MSA.

History

Founded in 1854, O'Fallon's namesake comes from

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

John O'Fallon John O'Fallon (November 17, 1791 – December 17, 1865) was a businessman, philanthropist, and military officer, a nephew of the explorer William Clark. During the 19th century he rose to become the wealthiest person in St. Louis, Missouri. The ...

who was a wealthy gentleman from

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 ...

. In downtown O'Fallon, a

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

railroad depot was built, which helped put O'Fallon on the map. City lots were

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

ted and sold at a

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

on May 18, 1854. A post office was established the following year and the city began attracting German settlers looking for fertile farming land. On January 27, 1874, O'Fallon was incorporated as a village. On March 14, 1905, the citizens voted for a change to the city form of government. Since its founding, O'Fallon has gained population every decennial census year except 1930, when 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 ...

showed a net loss of six residents. Tornado Damage, Illinois 2

The city center is approximately two miles east of the intersection of

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 ...

and

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlanti ...

. Suburban growth in O'Fallon expanded considerably during the 1980s and following the expansion of Interstate 64 in the 1990s.

Subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rus ...

s include Thornbury Hill, Nolin Creek Estates, Fairwood Hills, Deer Creek, Forest Hills, and Fairwood East.

O'Fallon Township High School O'Fallon Township High School is a public secondary school in O'Fallon, Illinois. In 2009, OTHS was ranked 49th out of the top 100 high schools in Illinois by the ''Chicago Sun Times''. As of 2020, it is the largest public high school in Illinois ...

's main campus at 600 South Smiley Street has undergone numerous additions over the past decades to ease overcrowding, including the creation of the separate 9th Grade Milburn Campus. O'Fallon's city seal was designed in 1974 by Michael Donovan, an OTHS freshman, during a contest held by the O'Fallon Junior Woman's Club to create a city flag. In May 1975, the design was finalized by Louis Bradshaw and was then adopted by the city as its official flag. According to the 2004 publication by the O'Fallon Historical Society, ''O'Fallon Sesquicentennial History'':

''"The design is yellow gold on a blue background—the colors of the high school. The pick and shovel represent the coal mines that were so important to O'Fallon's economy for over 100 years. The locomotive represents the railroad to which O'Fallon owes its existence. The planes represent Scott Air Force Base where many in O'Fallon find employment—both military and civil service."''

Events

Tornado outbreak of April 2, 2006 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 ...

Annual events

* May - Memorial Day To Honor Those Who Gave their lives in service of the nation (O'Fallon Veterans Monument) * November – Veterans Day Celebration at O'Fallon Veterans Monument; Veterans Day Parade - largest in the area * November, the Saturday after Thanksgiving - Lighted Holiday Parade

Parks and public services

Rock Springs nature center, O'Fallon, Illinois (2006)

O'Fallon Parks and Recreation * Family Sports Park * Hesse Park * Katy Cavin's Community Center * O'Fallon Community Park * O'Fallon Memorial Pool * Rock Springs Nature Park ** Nature center ** Jogging/cycling paths ** Nature trails ** Natural prairie ** Dog Park * MCT Goshen Trailhead * St. Clair Recreation Complex * St. Ellen Mine Park * Thoman Park * Veteran's Monument Library * O'Fallon Public Library Registered historic places *

Scott Field Historic District Scott Field Historic District began as a World War I era air base built in 1917 near O'Fallon, Illinois, and was expanded and rebuilt before World War II. The district contains primarily that portion of the base built prior to 1941, and is now ...

Schools

* O'Fallon Community Consolidated School District #90 ** Delores Moye Elementary School ** Estelle Kampmeyer Elementary School ** J. E. Hinchcliffe Sr. Elementary School ** Laverna Evans Elementary School ** Marie Schaefer Elementary School ** Amelia V. Carriel Junior High School ** Edward A. Fulton Junior High School * O'Fallon Central School District #104 * O'Fallon Township High School District No. 203 **

Private schools * Discovery School * St. Clare Catholic School * First Baptist Academy

Geography

O'Fallon is located at (38.591549, −89.912000). O'Fallon is: * from

* from

McKendree University McKendree University (McK) is a private university in Lebanon, Illinois. Founded in 1828 as the Lebanon Seminary, it is the oldest college or university in Illinois. McKendree enrolls approximately 2,300 undergraduates and nearly 700 graduate ...

* and from

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, ...

According to the 2010 census, the city has a total area of , of which (or 99.10%) is land and (or 0.83%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

of 2010, there were 28,281 people, 8,310 households, and 6,016 families living in the city. The population density was /sq mi (/km). There were 8,310 housing units at an average density of /sq mi (/km). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the city was 82.67% White, 11.99% African American, 0.23% Native American, 2.47% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.79% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.23% of the population. Of the 8,310 households 39.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. 23.2% of households were one person and 7.2% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.13. The age distribution was 28.3% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.9% 65 or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males. The median household income was $55,927 and the median family income was $66,262. Males had a median income of $46,303 versus $30,158 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,821. About 4.1% of families and 5.0% 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 5.0% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Bob Cryder, professional football player *

Bernie Fuchs Bernie Fuchs (October 29, 1932 – September 17, 2009) was an American illustrator known for advertising art, magazine illustration and portraiture, including for a series of U.S. postage stamps. Biography Fuchs was born in O'Fallon, Illinois ...

, illustrator * Lance Geiger, ''The History Guy'' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

, Academy Award-winning actor *

Joseph W. Schmitt Joseph W. Schmitt (January 2, 1916 – September 25, 2017) was a spacesuit technician for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration human space exploration program in the 1960s and 70s. As "suit tech", he was on close terms with the ast ...

, spacesuit technician for the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...

Gallery

File:Alertronic High Powered Voice Siren.JPG, City

Civil defense siren A civil defense siren, also known as an air-raid siren or tornado siren, is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. It is sometimes sounded again to indicate the danger has pas ...

File:War memorial, O'Fallon, Illinois.JPG, O’Fallon War Memorial File:Hesse Park, O'Fallon, Illinois.JPG, Hesse Park File:Flag of O'Fallon IL.jpg, Flag of O'Fallon

References

External links

City of O'Fallon

O'Fallon Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control Cities in St. Clair County, Illinois Populated places established in 1854 Cities in Illinois 1854 establishments in Illinois