Illinois Bend is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Montague County,

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 ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 30 in 2000.

History

The community was founded in 1862 by a small group of people who relocated to Texas from

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 ...

. It was formerly known as Wardville after the local landowner C. M. Ward. When a post office was established there in 1877, the name was changed to Illinois Bend. The community had 300 residents, two gristmills, numerous cotton gins, and several churches in 1885. Due to rail lines avoiding the village, its population had decreased to 112 by 1910. In the late 1940s, when one business was there, there were 68 residents. Sometime around 1930, the community's post office was shut down. There were just 51 people living in Illinois Bend by the late 1960s. The population had decreased to thirty by 2000. It then went up to 40 in 2020. Early settlers were plagued by occasional raids from

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

and

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

Indians who had been placed in the Leased Lands north of the Red River and on the eastern border of the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation () is a federally recognized Indigenous nation with headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, in the United States. The Chickasaw Nation descends from an Indigenous population historically located in the southeastern United States, in ...

. On May 15, 2013, an EF0 tornado struck Illinois Bend. It damaged a home and downed several trees. Another tornado reportedly struck the community on March 20, 1955, injuring one.

Geography

Illinois Bend is located on Farm to Market Road 677, northeast of Montague in the extreme northeastern corner of Montague County.

Education

Illinois Bend had its own school in 1885. Today, the community is served by the Saint Jo Independent School District.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Montague County, Texas 1862 establishments in Texas