Randolph County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 30,163. Its

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 ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. Owing to its role in the state's history, the county motto is "Where Illinois Began." It contains the historically important village of Kaskaskia, Illinois's first capital. The county is part of Southern Illinois in the southern portion of the state known locally as " Little Egypt", and includes fertile river flats, part of the American Bottom; it is near the Greater St. Louis area.

History

Randolph County was organized in 1795 out of a part of St. Clair County. It was named in honor of Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia. George Rogers Clark of the army of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

captured the area from the British on July 4, 1778, near the end of the Revolutionary War. The area then became the seat, for several years, of Illinois County, Virginia, although the Congress of the Confederation legislated the existence of the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

on July 13, 1787. Edmund Randolph was Governor of Virginia at the time Virginia ceded the Northwest Territory to the United States. In 1809, when

became a separate territory, Territorial Secretary Nathaniel Pope, in his capacity as acting governor, issued a proclamation establishing Randolph as one of the Illinois' two original counties. The county's boundaries were last changed in 1827, when land was taken to form Perry County. The

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

has played a prominent role in the county's history, altering its boundaries in 1881 when it severed the isthmus that connected Kaskaskia to the Illinois mainland, destroying the original village of Kaskaskia and forcing its historic cemetery to be relocated across the river to Fort Kaskaskia. Crains Island, southeast of

, is another enclave of Illinois west of the Mississippi that was created by a change in the river's course. File:Randolph County Illinois 1809.png, Randolph County as it was re-established in 1809. This diagonal border line had been drawn by the Indiana Territorial government in 1803. File:Randolph County Illinois 1812.png, Randolph County between 1812 and 1813 File:Randolph County Illinois 1813.png, Randolph County between 1813 and 1816 File:Randolph County Illinois 1816.png, Randolph County between 1816 and 1827 File:Randolph County Illinois 1827.png, Randolph County in 1827, reduced to its current borders

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.6%) is water. The Kaskaskia River flows into the

in Randolph County. At this point the Mississippi, which usually defines the border between Illinois and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, is entirely in Illinois. The Mississippi changed its course in the late-nineteenth century, leaving Kaskaskia, the former state capital, on the west side of the river. The boundary of the State, however, follows the old course of the river, leaving Illinois with an exclave on the western shore of the Mississippi River. A smaller enclave, Crains Island, is a few miles further down the river.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Chester have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1985 and a record high of was recorded in July 2012. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Major highways

* Illinois Route 3 * Illinois Route 4 * Illinois Route 13 * Illinois Route 150 * Illinois Route 153 * Illinois Route 154 * Illinois Route 155 * Illinois Route 159

Adjacent counties

* Monroe County (northwest) * St. Clair County (north) * Washington County (northeast) * Perry County (east) * Jackson County (southeast) * Perry County,

(south) * Ste. Genevieve County,

(southwest) Randolph County is among the few counties in the United States to border two counties with the same name (Perry County in Missouri and Illinois).

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 33,476 people, 12,314 households, and 8,188 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 13,707 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 87.6% white, 9.7% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.2% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.6% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 40.3% were German, 11.3% were Irish, 9.4% were English, and 5.7% were American. Of the 12,314 households, 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.5% were non-families, and 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 41.0 years. The median income for a household in the county was $45,020 and the median income for a family was $55,113. Males had a median income of $43,359 versus $28,376 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,950. About 7.0% of families and 10.4% 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 11.9% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

The Illinois Department of Corrections Menard Correctional Center is located in

. Prior to the January 11, 2003, commutation of death row sentences, male death row inmates were housed in Menard, Tamms, and Pontiac correctional centers. After that date, only Pontiac continued to host the male death row.DOC Report Online
" Illinois Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.

Politics

Randolph is a rural conservative county in southern Illinois that has trended Republican since 2000 in presidential elections.

Media

There are two AM radio stations licensed in the county — WHCO 1230AM in Sparta and KSGM 980AM in Chester. Weekly newspapers in the county are ''The Randolph County Herald Tribune'' located in Chester, ''The County Journal'', which is based in Percy and also covers Perry and Jackson Counties, the ''North County News'' in Red Bud, and the ''Sparta News-Plaindealer''. The area is also served by the on-line newspaper based in Chester which is SunTimesNews.com

Communities

Cities

* Red Bud *

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

Villages

* Baldwin * Coulterville * Ellis Grove * Evansville * Kaskaskia * Percy * Prairie du Rocher * Rockwood * Ruma * Steeleville * Tilden

Unincorporated communities

* Blair * Bremen * Dozaville * Eden * Fort Gage * Grigg *

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

* Leanderville * Marigold * Menard * Modoc * New Palestine *

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

* Preston * Reily Lake * Schuline * Shiloh Hill * Walsh * Welge * Wine Hill

Forts

* Fort de Chartres

References

External links

KBDZ 93.1 FM Radio

KSGM AM 980 Radio

Randolph County Government

SunTimesNews.com

Randolph County Herald-Tribune

North County News

{{Coord, 38.05, -89.82, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 1795 establishments in the Northwest Territory Illinois counties Illinois counties on the Mississippi River Southern Illinois Populated places established in 1795