Williamson 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 ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 67,153. The largest city and

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 Marion. Williamson County is included in the Carbondale-Marion, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. This area of Southern Illinois is known locally as "Little Egypt". Williamson is in the Metro Lakeland area, southeast of

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. Via the nearby intersection of Interstates 57 and 24, and Illinois Route 13, a primary east–west four-lane expressway, the city has access to the major communities of Murphysboro, Carbondale, Carterville, Herrin, Marion and

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, ...

. The Metro Lakeland area of Jackson-Williamson counties has a total of 120,000 residents. Carbondale (14 miles west), Herrin and Marion are the key urban areas in

Metro Lakeland Metro Lakeland is a name that was coined in the 1960s for an area of southern Illinois that is centered on the intersections of Interstate 57, Interstate 24, and Illinois Route 13—a four-lane east-west highway connecting the communities of Murp ...

, with a combined population of more than 65,000. Over 235,000 people live within .

History

Williamson County was formed from Franklin County on February 28, 1839, and was named for Williamson County,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Many of its settlers were from the Uplands South, traveling via 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 ...

from Kentucky and Virginia. File:Williamson County Illinois 1839.png, Williamson County at the time of its creation in 1839 It became a center of coal mining, attracting numerous European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Labor tensions rose as workers sought to unionize and improve their wages and conditions. Mine owners resisted and several episodes of violence resulted during strikes and other work actions. resulted in several episodes of violence. Williamson County is often referred to as "Bloody Williamson," due to several outbreaks of violence that have few parallels in American history. These include the Bloody Vendetta (1876), armed confrontation between families and associates during the waning days of Reconstruction; the Carterville Massacre (1899), a Coal Strike (1906), the Herrin Massacre (1922), the Klan War (1924–1926), and the

Birger Birger is a Scandinavian name from Old Norse, ''bjarga'', meaning "to help, to save, to protect". It is widely used in Norway as Birger but also as Børge. The Swedish variant of ''Birger'' would soon evolve into ''Börje'', however, the prior for ...

/ Shelton Gang War (1926). During the so-called Klan War, a mob of perhaps 1,300 men were deputized by the local sheriff. Starting on February 1, 1924, the posse began raiding the homes of local mine workers, mostly Italian immigrants. The Klan was inspired by both nativist and Prohibitionist fervor. Violence continued sporadically between bootleggers and the Klan. Twenty people were killed before peace was restored. In June 1915, a Sicilian miner accused of the fatal shooting of a wealthy local resident was lynched in

Johnston City, Illinois Johnston City is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,348 at the 2020 census. This was a center of coal mining in the early 20th century, having a peak of population in the 1920s ...

by a mob."SLAYER LYNCHED BY ILLINOIS MOB"
''Belvidere Daily Republican'' (Belvidere, Illinois), June 11, 1915; accessed February 2, 2017 The Illinois National Guard was deployed to prevent rioting between the miner's supporters and opponents. They were also later ordered to various locations repeatedly during the 1920s to separate warring parties and attempt to keep order. The northwest section of the county suffered extensive damage during the

Tri-State Tornado In the midday and afternoon hours of Wednesday, March 18, 1925, the deadliest tornado in United States history and second-deadliest worldwide moved through Eastern Missouri, Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana, killing 695 people and inj ...

of 1925. The county was also struck by two

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

es on May 29, 1982, which killed 10 people in the Marion, Illinois tornado outbreak. On May 8, 2009, the cities of Carterville, Herrin, and Marion were severely damaged by the May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (5.4%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Franklin County (north) * Saline County (east) * Pope County (southeast) * Johnson County (south) * Union County (southwest) * Jackson County (west)

National protected area

* Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Major highways

Interstate 24 Interstate 24 (I-24) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from I-57, south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75. It travels through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennesse ...

Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway that exists in two segments. It runs through Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I-57 parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route north of Interstate 55, I-55. T ...

U.S. Highway 45 * Illinois 13

Illinois Route 13 *

Illinois Route 37 Illinois Route 37, Illinois 37 or IL 37, is a north–south state highway in southern Illinois. IL 37's southern terminus is at U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and IL 3 in Cairo and the northern terminus is at US 45 in Watson. Rou ...

Illinois Route 148 * Illinois 149

Illinois Route 149 * Illinois 166

Illinois Route 166

Transit

* Rides Mass Transit District *

South Central Transit South Central Illinois Mass Transit District is a provider of mass transportation in Clinton, Franklin, Jefferson, Marion, Perry and Washington counties in Illinois, with deviated fixed-routes serving numerous cities, as well as demand-re ...

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

* List of intercity bus stops in Illinois

Airport

Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois in Marion is the local airport.

Climate and weather

Williamson County lies on the border between

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfa'') and

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

''Cfa''), with neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature. It is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and, along with the rest of the midwestern United States, is home to some of the largest temperature extremes in the world. The region has four distinct

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Spring is the wettest season and produces erratic severe weather ranging from

es to

winter storm A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental and subarct ...

s. Summers are hot and humid, with only occasional and brief respite, and the humidity often makes the

heat index The heat index (HI) is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity, in shade (shadow), shaded areas, to posit a human-perceived equivalent temperature, as how hot it would feel if the humidity were some other value in the Shade (s ...

rise to temperatures feeling well above . Fall is mild with lower humidity and can produce intermittent bouts of heavy rainfall, with the first snow flurries usually forming in late November. Winters are cold with periodic snow and temperatures often below freezing; however, thaws are usually frequent. Winter storm systems, such as Alberta clippers and Panhandle hooks, can bring days of heavy

freezing rain Freezing rain is rain maintained at temperatures below melting point, freezing by the ambient air mass that causes freezing on contact with surfaces. Unlike rain and snow mixed, a mixture of rain and snow or ice pellets, freezing rain is made en ...

ice pellets Ice pellets ( Commonwealth English) or sleet (American English) is a form of precipitation consisting of small, hard, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets are different from graupel ("soft hail"), which is made of frosty white opaque rime, a ...

, and

snowfall Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

. The normal high temperature in July is , and the normal low temperature in January is , although this varies from year to year. Both temperatures can be seen on an average 2 or 3 days per year. In recent years, average temperatures have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1977 and a record high of was recorded in August 1977. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in October to in May. Williamson County has

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustics, acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorm ...

s about 50 days a year on average. Thunderstorms contribute over half of the annual precipitation. Especially in the spring, these storms can often be severe, with high winds, large

hail Hail is a form of solid Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailsto ...

and tornadoes. Some late autumns feature the warm weather known as

Indian summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or mor ...

; some years see roses in bloom as late as early December.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 66,357 people, 27,421 households, and 17,999 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 30,359 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 92.7% white, 3.8% black or African American, 0.8% Asian, 0.4% Native American, 0.5% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.6% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 17.3% were Irish, 16.0% were English, 9.0% were American, and 6.1% were

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. Of the 27,421 households, 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.4% were non-families, and 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.88. The median age was 40.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $40,579 and the median income for a family was $50,929. Males had a median income of $41,428 versus $30,901 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,164. About 13.3% of families and 16.7% 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 24.3% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Carbondale (mostly in Jackson County) * Carterville * Creal Springs * Herrin * Hurst * Johnston City * Marion (seat) (partly in Johnson County)

Villages

* Bush *

Cambria Cambria is a name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name for the country, . The term was not in use during the Roman period (when Wales had not come into existence as a distinct entity) or the early medieval period. After the ...

* Colp * Crainville *

Energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

* Freeman Spur (partly in Franklin County) * Pittsburg * Spillertown * Stonefort (mostly in Saline County)

Census-designated places

* Blairsville * Crab Orchard * Whiteash

Other unincorporated communities

Attila Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

* Crenshaw * Dewmaine * Dog Walk * Dykersburg * Fergestown * Hudgens * New Dennison * No. 9 * Paineville * Palzo * Paulton * Pulleys Mill * Stiritz * Willeford

Ghost towns

* Chamness * Clifford * Dewmaine * Halfway * Halfway (Little Juarez)

Precincts

The following precincts are not voting precincts, but represent the 12 Congressional townships in Williamson County. Most have multiple voting precincts. * Blairsville * Carterville *

* Crab Orchard * Creal Springs * East Marion * Grassy * Herrin * Lake Creek * Southern * Stonefort * West Marion

Education

Government and infrastructure

United States Penitentiary, Marion is located in Southern Precinct in Williamson County.Marion city, Illinois
."

. Retrieved on June 5, 2010.

Politics

Williamson County has been solidly Republican on the national level, voting for the Republican candidates for U.S. president since 2000. *

References

* {{Coord, 37.73, -88.93, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990, display=title Illinois counties 1839 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1839 Williamson County, Illinois Williamson County, Illinois