Muddy is a small incorporated village located in the Harrisburg Township in Saline 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 ...

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. The population was 78 at the 2000 census.

History

During the 19th century, the site of Muddy was home to a small settlement known as Robinson's Ford, which was among the communities considered for the seat of Saline County after the county's creation in the 1840s. The modern village of Muddy had its start as a mining settlement established by the Harrisburg Big Muddy Coal Company, for which it was named, in 1903. The mine was sold to the larger O'Gara Coal Company in 1906. The former St. Ioasaph Orthodox Church in Muddy, built in 1913, is dedicated to

Ioasaph of Belgorod Joasaph of Belgorod (, , secular name Ioakim Andreyevich Gorlenko, ; 8 (19) September 1705 – 10 (21) December 1754) was an 18th-century Russian Orthodox hierarch, bishop of Belgorod from 1748 until his death. His remains were found to be inc ...

. The church was located on South St. at . This church was attended by eastern European immigrants, including Russians, Slovaks, Poles, and

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

,. It was dismantled in 2019.

Geography

Muddy is located at (37.764086, -88.514469). The village lies along

U.S. Route 45 U.S. Route 45 (US 45) is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as . US 45 is notable for incorporati ...

northeast of

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

and southwest of Eldorado. The Middle Fork of the Saline River flows just southwest of Muddy. The Tunnel Hill State Trail, a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the rail corr ...

, passes through the village. According to the 2010 census, Muddy has a total area of , of which (or 99.67%) is land and (or 0.33%) is water.

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 78 people, 34 households, and 21 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 39 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 88.46%

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 ...

, 5.13%

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 ...

, 2.56% Native American, 3.85% from other 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 3.85% of the population. There were 34 households, out of which 38.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% 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, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.2% were non-families. 38.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.95. In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.4% under the age of 18, 17.9% from 18 to 24, 17.9% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males. The median income for a household in the village was $24,375, and the median income for a family was $28,750. Males had a median income of $28,750 versus $28,250 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 $13,384. There were no families and 7.7% of the population living 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 no under eighteens and none of those over 64.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Saline County, Illinois Coal towns in Illinois Villages in Illinois Ethnic enclaves in Illinois Ukrainian communities in the United States Rusyn-American culture in Illinois