Joppa is a village in Massac County,

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, along 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 ...

. The population was 350 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Paducah, KY-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

During the first part of the 19th century, a riverboat

landing Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or " spl ...

known as Copeland's Landing operated at what is now Joppa. In the early 1870s, A.J. Kuykendall, a prominent local land owner, and Jesse Baccus, who operated a local sawmill, decided to establish a town. They named the town after the Biblical city of Joppa (in modern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

). After the arrival of the railroad in 1900, the village thrived for several years as a river-to-rail

transloading Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...

station. Joppa incorporated in 1901.George W. May,
History of Massac County, Illinois
' (Wagoner Printing Company, 1955), pp. 192-194. Accessed at archive.org. Joppa has since lost a lot of population and stores, now only having a school and a few hundred people living there.

Geography

Joppa is located in western Massac County at (37.207399, -88.843033). The village lies along the

downstream from

Metropolis, Illinois Metropolis is a city and the county seat in Massac County, Illinois, United States. It is located by the Ohio River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,969, down from 6,537 in 2010 United States census, 2 ...

, and

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in the Upland South, and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern Unit ...

. Metropolis is southeast of Joppa, and Paducah is to the southeast. County Road 5 connects Joppa with U.S. Route 45 near Metropolis to the east. The Joppa Generating Station, a coal and natural gas power plant operated by Electric Energy, Inc., lies just west of the village. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, Joppa has a total area of , of which , or 3.57%, are water.

Demographics

2010

According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, 360 persons lived in the village: *89.2%

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 ...

; 85.8% White, non-Hispanic *8.6%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

*0.6% Native American *0.0% Asian *0.0%

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

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 ...

*1.7% Two or more races *0.0% Other races *3.3% Hispanic or Latino (all White)

2000

In 2000, there were 409 people, 165 households, and 110 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 203 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 88.26%

, 7.58%

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 ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.98% from other races, and 2.93% 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 2.44% of the population. There were 165 households, out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% 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, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.09. In the village, the population was spread out, with 27.6% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $17,813, and the median income for a family was $20,729. Males had a median income of $23,750 versus $16,607 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 $8,890. About 34.3% of families and 44.6% 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 65.1% of those under age 18 and 20.0% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Massac County, Illinois Paducah micropolitan area Illinois populated places on the Ohio River Villages in Illinois