Gorham is a village in Jackson County,

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. The population was 173 at the 2020 census. It is known locally for its near-annihilation during the deadly

1925 Tri-State tornado In the midday and afternoon hours of Wednesday, March 18, 1925, the deadliest tornado in United States history and second-deadliest worldwide moved through Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana, killing 695 people and injur ...

Geography

Gorham is located at (37.716897, -89.485804). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Gorham has a total area of , of which (or 99.11%) is land and (or 0.89%) is water. Gorham is located in the middle of the Mississippi River floodplain, which is among the most fertile farming regions in the Midwestern United States. The village is at a particularly low elevated region of the floodplain known as the "Bottoms". This makes it more susceptible to flooding, as it was threatened in the infamous

Great Flood of 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi River, Mississippi and Missouri River, Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from ...

and the New Year's Day Flood of 2016. In 1925, the powerful

Tri-State Tornado In the midday and afternoon hours of Wednesday, March 18, 1925, the deadliest tornado in United States history and second-deadliest worldwide moved through Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana, killing 695 people and inj ...

struck the town at 2:26pm. Out of the 80 houses in the town, 60 were destroyed and the other 20 were damaged. The train depot and all the store fronts were also destroyed, as well as the top two floors of the school leaving only the first. 34 people were killed in the tornado. Less than one mile south of Gorham is a large hill named Fountain Bluff. Though the bluff is not exceptionally well-known, its rock faces do attract occasional rock-climbers. Etched into cliffs on the north side of this landform are several Native American

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 173 people, 78 households, and 57 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 86 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 93.06%

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 ...

, 0.58%

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 ...

, 0.58% Native American, 0.00% 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 ...

, 3.47% from other races, and 2.31% from two or more races.

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or Latino of any race were 7.51% of the population. There were 78 households, out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.59% were married couples living together, 23.08% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.92% were non-families. 23.08% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.98 and the average family size was 3.37. The village's age distribution consisted of 34.2% under the age of 18, 16.7% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 19% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 127.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $27,188, and the median income for a family was $38,125. Males had a median income of $21,563 versus $21,667 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 $12,378. About 29.8% of families and 51.0% 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 68.9% of those under age 18 and 0.0% of those age 65 or over.

Notable person

* Joe Grace (1914–1969), professional baseball outfielder for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

and Washington Senators

References

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