Equality is a village in Equality Township,

Gallatin County, Illinois Gallatin County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it has a population of 4,946, making it the third-least populous county in Illinois. Its county ...

, United States. The population was 539 at the 2020 census. Near the village are two points of interest, the Crenshaw House and the Garden of the Gods Wilderness. Equality was the county seat of Gallatin County from 1826–1851.

History

On Jan. 26, 1826, Equality was officially established by the General Assembly as the county seat of Gallatin County. The courthouse was built in 1827 for the amount of $1,300.00. Court was held there until 1851, when all legal documents were removed to Shawneetown, The building was later used as a school, church & local society meetings. It was destroyed by fire Nov. 28, 1894.

Salt Works

French settlers extracted salt near Equality as early as 1735, while Native Americans made salt here long before then. In 1803, the American Indians ceded their " Great Salt Springs" to the US government by treaty. The government then leased the springs, requiring the holder to produce a certain quantity of salt each year or pay a penalty. The salt works is referred to as the "United States Saline" in old documents. Isaac White was in charge of the salt works in 1811. White volunteered for the Indiana Militia that year, and was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Special territorial laws permitted exceptions to anti-slavery treaties at these salines, and slaves were used extensively in manufacturing salt. The census of 1820 for Gallatin County listed 239 slaves or servants. During the 1820s, Gallatin County included what is now Saline County as its western half. In 1826, 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 ...

was moved from Old Shawneetown, on the eastern edge of the county, to the new village of Equality, near the center of what was then Gallatin County. Equality remained the county seat until the formation of Saline County in 1847. In 1838, a local salt maker and illegal slave trader, John Hart Crenshaw, began building his manor house at Hickory Hill just five miles east of Equality; he used the house for his business of

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

free blacks and breeding slaves to sell into slavery as part of the Reverse Underground Railroad. The Great Salt Springs are located southeast of Equality, on federal land along the south bank of the Saline River, seven-tenths of a mile west of Illinois Route 1 on Salt Well Road. Half Moon Lick, where the saltworks first developed as a large industry, is on private property southwest of Equality. Salineriverilscenic

Geography

Equality is located in western Gallatin County at (37.736472, -88.344473), on the north side of the Saline River, a southeast-flowing tributary of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. According to the 2010 census, Equality has a total area of , of which (or 98.23%) is land and (or 1.77%) is water.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 539 people, 218 households, and 129 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 280 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 96.67%

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 ...

, 0.19% Asian, 0.19% from other races, and 2.97% 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 2.04% of the population. There were 218 households, out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.70% were married couples living together, 20.64% had a female householder with no husband present. The median income for a household in the village was $40,833, and the median income for a family was $48,750. About 20.9% 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 12.9% of those under age 18 and 15.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

* Stu Fliege. 2002. ''Trails & Tales of Illinois''. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. * Jon Musgrave. 2005. ''Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw''. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com. * Gillum Ferguson. 2007. ''The Perilous Infancy of Saline County'', Journal of Illinois History, Vol. 10, p. 49.

External links