Long Creek is a village in Macon County,

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. As of the 2020 census there were 1,261 people. It is included in the

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Long Creek is named for the creek that runs through the area. The first settlers arrived in 1828 from

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and subsequently built log cabins and made improvements on the surrounding land. In the fall of 1828, a band of Native Americans from the

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arrived and set up camp along Long Creek and began trapping, hunting, and fishing. When they were relatively unsuccessful at catching game, the Kickapoo began killing hogs and stealing poultry from the early settlers. Eventually a group of settlers drove them from the county. During the early 1830s the area saw more settlers arriving, and the first schoolhouse was constructed in 1834. The school also served as a place of worship before the first church was built in 1842.

Geography

Long Creek is located in eastern Macon County at (39.808936, -88.856548). It is bordered to the northwest by the city of Decatur, 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 ...

, and to the southwest by the village of

Mount Zion Mount Zion (, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; , ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City to the south. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David ( ...

. U.S. Route 36 runs along the northern edge of Long Creek village, leading northwest to the center of Decatur and east to Tuscola. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the village of Long Creek has a total area of , all land. Long Creek flows through the center of the village limits, running west to Finley Creek at the southeast arm of Lake Decatur, a reservoir on the

Sangamon River The Sangamon River is a principal tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 in central Illinois in the United Sta ...

Demographics

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 1,364 people, 486 households, and 408 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 500 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 98.61%

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, 0.44%

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, 0.15% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.44% from two or more races.

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or Latino people of any race were 0.51% of the population. There were 486 households, out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.1% 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, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.0% were non-families. 13.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.08. In the village, the population was spread out, with 27.7% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 28.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.6 males. The median income for a household in the village was $56,083, and the median income for a family was $58,056. Males had a median income of $43,958 versus $27,344 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 $23,141. About 3.5% of families and 5.1% 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 7.4% of those under age 18 and 2.2% of those age 65 or over.

References

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