Dupo is a village in

St. Clair County, Illinois St. Clair County is the ninth most populous county in Illinois. Located directly east of St. Louis, the county is part of the Metro East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area in southern Illinois. As of the 2020 United States ...

, United States. The population was 4,138 at the 2010 census, an increase from 3,933 in 2000. The village was settled in about 1750 and was incorporated in 1907. Its modern name, adopted in the early 20th century, is shortened from ("Bridge Prairie").

Geography

Dupo is located at (38.515702, -90.207992). It is located in the

American Bottom The American Bottom is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro East region of Southern Illinois, extending from Alton, Illinois, south to the Kaskaskia River. It is also sometimes called "American Bottoms". The area is about , mos ...

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

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

History

In the Mississippian period, Dupo was the site of one of several multi-mound communities in the floodplain near

Cahokia Cahokia Mounds ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis. The state archaeology park lies in south-western Illinois between East St. L ...

. These mounds remained standing at least as recently as 1915. The French village of Prairie du Pont was first settled around 1750 by townspeople moving out of Cahokia. It was located at a bridge over what is now known as Prairie du Pont Creek, on the trail from Cahokia to Kaskaskia, which was the first wagon road in Illinois. The settlement may have been motivated by Dupo being located 10–12 feet higher than Cahokia and thus being more protected from floods on the Mississippi River. The

Sulpician The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (; PSS), also known as the Sulpicians, is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, where it was founded. The members of the Society add the ...

mission established a mill near the bridge, which became the core of the town's development. By 1765 fourteen families lived in Prairie du Pont. The village's growth was further spurred by the prominent local citizen Antoine Girardin, who parceled off parts of the Cahokia commons to residents of Prairie du Pont. The early French village at Prairie du Pont followed a tripartite system of land ownership that was common in the Illinois country: private houses in a row, "common fields" enclosed by a shared fence but divided into narrow strips owned and farmed by a particular family, and the actual

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

used jointly by the inhabitants for grazing their livestock. The village elected a village council, or

syndic ''Syndic'' (; Greek: ) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or p ...

, to maintain the fence around the common fields. Among the early inhabitants of Prairie du Pont was the noted gunsmith Philip Creamer, who settled in the area in 1805. Some parts of the historic Prairie du Pont community, such as the Pierre Martin House, are now located in unincorporated

North Dupo, Illinois North Dupo is an unincorporated community in Sugarloaf Township, St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. North Dupo is located along Illinois Route 3 south of Cahokia and north of Dupo, bordering both villages. The Pierre Martin House, whic ...

. A Prairie du Pont school district was established by legislative enactment in 1847, to be funded by leases of the village commons, but no school was actually held in the village until 1861, due to inadequate funds. In the 1880s, the town of Prairie du Pont had about 50 inhabitants, of whom about 20% were African American. The modern town of Dupo was platted in 1905 and incorporated in 1907. It grew around the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

switching yards. At the instigation of the railroad, the name was shortened from Prairie du Pont to Dupo. In 1928, the Ohio Oil Company discovered oil in Dupo. This led to an oil boom in the town, in which oil wells were sunk in people's front yards. However, the oil boom was short-lived and the economy of the town returned to depending primarily on the rail yard. In 1997, the town considered switching its name back to Prairie Du Pont to put the industrial period behind it and better attract tourism, but ultimately left its name unchanged. In 2019, a Union Pacific freight train derailed at the Dupo Yard, leading to the evacuation of several neighborhoods in Dupo. The crash was caused by a -long freight train breaking in half and the two halves then colliding. A tank car full of

methyl isobutyl ketone Methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK, 4-methylpentan-2-one) is an organic compound with the structural formula, condensed chemical formula (CH3)2CHCH2C(O)CH3. This ketone is a colourless liquid that is used as a solvent for gums, resins, paints, varnishes ...

caught fire.

Demographics

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

there were 4,138 people, 1,650 households, and 1,142 families residing in the village. The

Population Density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 655 people per square mile(252.8/km). There were 1,863 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 94.9%

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 ...

, 2.3%

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 ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.8% 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 1.4% of the population. There were 1,650 households, out of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 17.7% had a female householder with no husband present with 10.8% of all households having a female householder with kids. 7.7% had a male householder with no husband present with 4.2% of all households having a male householder with no wife and kids. 30.8% of all households were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.91. In Dupo, 25.3% of the population was under 18, 6.8% from 20 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64 and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years, For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. The median income for a household in the village was $45,203, and the median income for a family was $58,370. Males had an average income of $45,621 versus $32,628 for females. The Per Capita Income for the village was $24,404. About 14.0% of families and 14.9% 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 25.2% of those under 18 and 14.4% of those age 65 and over. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 3,933 people, 1,557 households, and 1,063 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,668 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.20%

, 1.17%

, 0.31% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.36% from other races, and 0.71% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.69% of the population. There were 1,557 households, out of which 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were

living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 26.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.04. In the village, the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.9 males. The median income for a household in the village was $43,036, and the median income for a family was $47,000. Males had a median income of $35,529 versus $24,135 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 $18,505. About 2.9% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the

, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Dupo is served by Dupo Community Unit School District and has one high school, Dupo High School.

Notable people

* Candace Jordan, television personality, Playboy Playmate December 1979

References