Christian County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,032. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Taylorville.

History

Christian County was formed February 15, 1839, out of Sangamon, Montgomery and Shelby counties. It was named for Christian County, Kentucky. It was originally named Dane County and was called Dane County until 1840. File:Christian County Illinois 1839.png, Christian County at its creation in 1839

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water. The county is bounded on the north by

Sangamon River The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 in central Illinois in the United Sta ...

, and intersected by the south fork of that stream.

Adjacent counties

* Macon County (northeast) * Shelby County (southeast) * Montgomery County (southwest) * Sangamon County (northwest)

Major highways

* US Route 51 * Illinois Route 16 * Illinois Route 29 * Illinois Route 48 * Illinois Route 104

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Taylorville have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in August 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 34,800 people, 14,055 households, and 9,211 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 15,563 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.6% white, 1.4% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% American Indian, 0.4% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 21.9% were German, 12.7% were Irish, 10.6% were American, and 9.9% were English. Of the 14,055 households, 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.5% were non-families, and 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 41.6 years. The median income for a household in the county was $41,712 and the median income for a family was $52,680. Males had a median income of $42,897 versus $30,027 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,519. About 12.7% of families and 16.6% 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 28.6% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Assumption * Pana * Taylorville

Villages

* Bulpitt * Edinburg * Harvel * Jeisyville * Kincaid * Morrisonville * Mount Auburn * Moweaqua * Owaneco * Palmer * Stonington * Tovey

Census-designated places

* Langleyville

Other unincorporated places

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

* Clarksdale * Dunkel * Ellis * Grove City * Hewittsville * Midway * Millersville * Old Stonington * Osbernville * Radford * Roby * Rosamond * Sharpsburg *

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

* Vanderville * Velma * Willey Station * Zenobia

Townships

Christian County is divided into these seventeen townships: * Assumption * Bear Creek * Buckhart * Greenwood * Johnson *

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

* Locust * May *

Mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

* Mount Auburn * Pana * Prairieton * Ricks * Rosamond * South Fork * Stonington * Taylorville

Notable people

* Jon Corzine, former governor of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, former resident of Willey Station. * Roy A. Corzine (1882-1957), Illinois state representative and farmer, was born in Stonington. * Harry Forrester, member of the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame and Quincy University Hall of Fame. * Brant Hansen, Christian radio host and author, graduated from high school in Assumption. * Tom Candy Ponting (1824-1916), cattleman who drove the first herd of cattle from

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

* Frank P. Sadler (1872–1931), Illinois state senator and lawyer, lived on a farm near Grove City. * John Wesley Fribley (1906–2002), state senate (1934–1952), born in Pana * Yvonne Craig (1937–2015) was born in Taylorville, Illinois. American actress renowned for her role as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the 1960s television series

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Politics

Like most of German-settled Central Illinois, Christian County was solidly Democratic until

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

’s response to German defeat in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

turned the county over to the Republican Party in its 1920, 1924 and 1928 landslides. The county remained Democratic-leaning through the rest of the twentieth century, only voting Republican in landslide wins. However, since 2000 Christian County has become reliably Republican.

References

;Specific ;General
United States Census Bureau 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles

United States Board on Geographic Names (GNIS)

United States National Atlas
{{Coord, 39.55, -89.28, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 1839 establishments in Illinois Illinois counties Populated places established in 1839