Wayne 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 16,179. 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 ...

is Fairfield. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as " Little Egypt".

History

Wayne County was formed in 1819 out of Edwards County. It is named after Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne, an officer in the Revolutionary War and

Northwest Indian War The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), also known by other names, was an armed conflict for control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and a united group of Native Americans in the United States, Native American na ...

. File:Wayne County Illinois 1819.png, Wayne County between its 1819 creation and 1821 File:Wayne County Illinois 1821.png, Wayne County between 1821 and 1824 File:Wayne County Illinois 1824.png, Wayne County in 1824, reduced to its current size

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Fairfield have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of was recorded in July 1901. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in April.

Transit

* Rides Mass Transit District

Major highways

* Interstate 64 * U.S. Highway 45 * Illinois Route 15 * Illinois Route 242

Adjacent counties

* Clay County (north) * Richland County (northeast) * Edwards County (east) * White County (southeast) * Hamilton County (south) * Jefferson County (southwest) * Marion County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 16,760 people, 7,102 households, and 4,853 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 7,975 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.0% white, 0.4% Asian, 0.3% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.3% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.1% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 17.0% were German, 14.1% were English, 12.7% were American, and 9.8% were Irish. Of the 7,102 households, 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.1% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.7% were non-families, and 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age was 42.9 years. The median income for a household in the county was $39,207 and the median income for a family was $47,879. Males had a median income of $34,800 versus $27,192 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,493. About 9.9% of families and 14.3% 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 18.0% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

* Fairfield

Villages

* Cisne *

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

* Jeffersonville * Johnsonville * Keenes * Mount Erie * Sims * Wayne City

Unincorporated communities

* Barnhill * Ellery * Mayberry * Rinard * Wynoose *

Zenith The zenith (, ) is the imaginary point on the celestial sphere directly "above" a particular location. "Above" means in the vertical direction (Vertical and horizontal, plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The z ...

Townships

Wayne County is divided into these 20 townships: * Arrington * Barnhill *

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

* Big Mound * Elm River * Four Mile * Garden Hill * Grover * Hickory Hill * Indian Prairie *

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

* Keith * Lamard *

Leech Leeches are segmented parasitism, parasitic or Predation, predatory worms that comprise the Class (biology), subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the Oligochaeta, oligochaetes, which include the earthwor ...

* Massilon * Mount Erie *

Orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

* Orel * Zif

Program 1033 Acquisitions

According to Department of Defense data, Wayne County has received six 5.56MM rifles and three "Utility Trucks" with a total acquisition cost of $120,705.

Politics

References

{{Coord, 38.43, -88.42, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 Illinois counties 1819 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1819 Wayne County, Illinois