Chrisman is a city in Ross Township, Edgar County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. The population was 1,312 at the 2020 census.

History

Chrisman was founded on land originally owned by a man named Abraham Smith, who moved to Ross Township in 1840. In 1851, Smith sold his farmland to John Chrisman who then built his home on the land where the Nazarene Church currently stands. Chrisman lived in this house until his death in 1870. Upon his death, the property, including the 800 acres of farmland, was inherited by his son, Mathias Chrisman. It is believed that at this time, around 20 other families were also living in the area. Two years later, a county surveyor visited the area looking to identify a location for a new town. John Chrisman along with Charles Caraway and William Kenton assisted the surveyor. Kenton suggested that the new town should be named “Chrisman” in honor of the current landowner. The town was established on 100 acres of land and, for a few months, was known as “Dolly Varden”. Ultimately, it was renamed to Chrisman and has remained that way ever since.

Geography

Chrisman is located on U.S. Route 150 less than a mile north of its intersection with U.S. Route 36. Two railroad lines intersect in Chrisman, both operated by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

. According to the 2010 census, Chrisman has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 1,312 people, 610 households, and 405 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 559 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.52%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.61%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.15% Native American, 0.46% Asian, 1.07% from other races, and 4.19% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.52% of the population. There were 610 households, out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.48% were married couples living together, 3.77% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.61% were non-families. 27.87% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.08% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 2.49. The city's age distribution consisted of 25.9% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 23.4% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 21.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $51,042, and the median income for a family was $70,234. Males had a median income of $46,875 versus $30,529 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $26,336. About 6.7% of families and 8.5% 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 ...

, including 6.1% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Harry Woodyard, Illinois state legislator, lived in Chrisman * Brent Owen, head men's basketball coach, Lenoir-Rhyne UniversityChrisman native Brent Owen is climbing the ranks of NCAA basketball, https://prairiepress.net/stories/chrisman-native-brent-owen-is-climbing-the-ranks-of-ncaa-basketball,69056

References

External links

* {{authority control Cities in Illinois Cities in Edgar County, Illinois