Crescent City is a village in

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

and

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

townships,

Iroquois County Iroquois County is a county located in the northeast part of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States Census, it has a population of 27,077. It is the only county in the United States named Iroquois. The county seat is W ...

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 552 at the 2020 census.

Geography

Crescent City is located in central Iroquois County at (40.770448, -87.857823).

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 or U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926 which runs east and west for most of its routing. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Misso ...

passes through the center of the village, leading east to Watseka, the

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 ...

, and west to Gilman near

Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway that exists in two segments. It runs through Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I-57 parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route north of Interstate 55, I-55. T ...

Illinois Route 49 Illinois Route 49 (IL 49) is a north–south state highway in east-central Illinois. It runs from Willow Hill at IL 33 north to the beginning of the U.S. Route 45/ 52 concurrency near Ashkum. Route description Illinois 49 runs ...

crosses US 24 on the western side of Crescent City; it leads north to US Routes 45 and 52 near L'Erable, and south to Rankin. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Crescent City has a total area of , all land.

History

Railroad accident

On June 21, 1970, the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad Company's Train No. 20 derailed in downtown Crescent City. A

propane Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...

tank car ruptured, and explosions caused fires that destroyed the city center, which included numerous houses and businesses. There were no deaths, although over 60 firefighters and civilians were injured. The disaster would later be featured on episode #124 of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

show ''

Destroyed in Seconds ''Destroyed in Seconds'' is an American television series that premiered on Discovery Channel on August 21, 2008. Hosted by Ron Pitts, it features video segments of various things being destroyed fairly quickly (hence, "in seconds") such as pla ...

''.

High School

In 2009, Crescent-Iroquois High School, the main high school for the village, was shut down. This meant that the elementary school would have to send the graduating 8th graders to surrounding high schools. The building was then used for special education purposes until around 2019, when they transferred them to Gilman, Illinois. In May 2022, the board of education accepted for the building to be demolished. The class of 2023-2024 was the first K-5 institution of the elementary school, after the 6th-8th grade classes were repurposed.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 552 people, 224 households, and 146 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 268 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 93.48%

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 ...

, 0.18%

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 ...

, 0.36% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.00%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.00% from other races, and 5.80% 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 2.17% of the population. There were 224 households, out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.11% were married couples living together, 12.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.82% were non-families. 29.46% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.73% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 2.17. The village's age distribution consisted of 18.4% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 26% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, and 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.2 males. The median income for a household in the village was $57,500, and the median income for a family was $71,389. Males had a median income of $55,179 versus $27,411 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 village was $31,276. About 7.5% of families and 8.0% 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 ...

, including 11.2% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Gallery

File:Crescent City, Illinois sign.jpg, Welcome sign File:Crescent City, Illinois town hall.jpg, Town hall and water tower File:Iroquois County First Responder & Public Safety Memorial.jpg, Monument

References

{{authority control Villages in Iroquois County, Illinois Villages in Illinois