::''See also Athens, Illinois and Athens (disambiguation) for more places called "Athens".'' New Athens () is a village in St. Clair 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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Based upon common usage, the 'A' is always sounded with a long vowel, rather than a short vowel, by its residents, unlike the most commonly used English pronunciation of the city in Greece. The population was 2,054 at the 2010 census. New Athens sits on the Kaskaskia River and was originally called Athens. The village was laid out in 1836 and incorporated in 1866. The name change to New Athens came in 1868 after it was discovered there was already an Athens in another part of the state. The area is known for the water sports recreation, including annual fishing derby. It is also the home of the Peabody River King Conservation Area. Since New Athens is in the

Metro East The Metro East is an urban area in Southern Illinois, United States that contains the eastern and northern urban, suburban, and exurban areas on the Mississippi River in Greater St. Louis. It encompasses eight Illinois counties and constitutes ...

area of greater

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, it also has a place in the local brewery history. New Athens was home to Mound City Brewery until the 1950s. Baseball is a major sport in the area and the village has produced a number of athletes who have played professionally. One of the favorite sons is Whitey Herzog, a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Other former major leaguers with New Athens ties include Larry Stahl,

Mickey Haefner Milton Arnold "Mickey" Haefner (October 9, 1912 – January 3, 1995) was an American knuckleball-throwing left-handed pitcher who played eight seasons in Major League Baseball between and , six and a half of them with the Washington Senators (19 ...

Warren Hacker Warren Louis Hacker (November 21, 1924 – May 22, 2002) was an American professional baseball player, a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs (1948–56), Cincinnati Redlegs (1957), Philadelphia Phillies (1957–58) and Chicago White Sox (1961). He was ...

and Rich Hacker. New Athens is home to several churches, including St. Agatha Catholic Church, St. John United Church of Christ, St. Paul Lutheran Church, The United Methodist Church of New Athens, and First Baptist Church.

History

The first organized settlement in what would later become the future town of New Athens, Illinois was Manville Ferry named after early settler and ferryman on the

Kaskaskia River The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 in central and southern Illinois in the U ...

, Ira Manville. Manville ran the ferry until his death in 1821. By 1818, the third generation of the Sturdivant family counterfeiters, known as the " Sturdivant Gang", were organized by Roswell S. Sturdivant and his brother, Merrick Sturdivant, who led the criminal organization, would base their southwestern Illinois counterfeiting operations at Manville Ferry and the other part of their criminal operation in southeastern Illinois on 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 ...

at Sturdivant's Fort, in

Pope County, Illinois Pope County is the southeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 3,763, making it the second-least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Golconda. The county was organized ...

, now present-day Rosiclare, Hardin County, Illinois.

Geography

New Athens is located at (38.322660, -89.874811). According to the 2010 census, New Athens has a total area of , of which (or 90.18%) is land and (or 9.82%) 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 1,981 people, 774 households, and 541 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 819 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.98%

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 ...

, 0.76%

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 ...

, 0.15% Native American, 0.35% Asian, 0.15%

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 ...

, and 0.61% 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 0.56% of the population. There were 774 households, out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% 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, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.1% were non-families. 26.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.00. In the village, the population was spread out, with 23.9% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males. The median income for a household in the village was $39,625, and the median income for a family was $49,236. Males had a median income of $36,307 versus $22,462 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 $17,627. About 6.8% of families and 8.4% 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 10.0% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The village of New Athens is the home of New Athens Community Unit School District #60 (NACUSD 60) – New Athens Township High School Yellow Jackets
The school website
provides additional resources and references.

Notable people

* Rich Hacker, coach for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

* Whitey Herzog, MLB Hall of Fame manager for the St. Louis Cardinals and

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

* Sturdivant Gang, 19th Century counterfeiters

References

External links

* * http://www.na60.org * http://www.city-data.com/city/New-Athens-Illinois.html * http://illinois.hometownlocator.com/il/st.-clair/new-athens.cfm {{authority control Villages in St. Clair County, Illinois Populated places established in 1836 1836 establishments in Illinois Villages in Illinois