Murphysboro
| Murphysboro | |||
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 The Jackson County Courthouse in Murphysboro |
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| Location in Illinois | |||
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| Basic data | |||
| Foundation : | 1843 | ||
| State : | United States | ||
| State : | Illinois | ||
| County : | Jackson County | ||
| Coordinates : | 37 ° 46 ′ N , 89 ° 20 ′ W | ||
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) | ||
| Residents : | 7,970 (as of 2010) | ||
| Population density : | 664.2 inhabitants per km 2 | ||
| Area : | 12.0 km 2 (approx. 5 mi 2 ) of which 12.0 km 2 (approx. 5 mi 2 ) are land |
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| Height : | 128 m | ||
| Postal code : | 62966 | ||
| Area code : | +1 618 | ||
| FIPS : | 17-51453 | ||
| GNIS ID : | 414250 | ||
| Website : | www.murphysboro.com | ||
| Mayor : | Ronald L. Williams | ||
Murphysboro is a city (with the status " City ") and the administrative seat of Jackson County in the US -amerikanischen State Illinois . In 2010 Murphysboro had 7,970 inhabitants.
geography
Murphysboro is located on the Big Muddy River , which flows into the Mississippi 40 km south of the city . The city is located at 37 ° 46 ' N , 89 ° 20' W and extends over 12 km².
Neighboring towns are Vergennes (16.4 km north), De Soto (12.2 km northeast), Carbondale (12.2 km southeast), Gorham (17.7 km southwest), Ava (25.8 km northwest).
The closest major cities are St. Louis , Missouri (143 km northwest), Louisville , Kentucky (361 km east), Tennessee's capital Nashville (344 km southeast) and Tennessee's largest city, Memphis (351 km southwest).
traffic
Illinois State Routes 13 , 127, and 149 meet in Murphysboro . All other roads are subordinate routes or inner-city connecting roads.
A Union Pacific Railroad line runs through the northwest of the city .
The Southern Illinois Airport is a regional airport on the eastern edge of the city. The nearest major airport is Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport (164 km northwest).
history
Murphysboro was founded in 1843 to serve as the new Jackson County administrative center after a fire destroyed the courthouse and thus the county administration in Brownsville . Brownsville - now a ghost town - was located at the mouth of Kinkaid Creek and Big Muddy River , and thus on the edge of Jackson County. On February 27, 1843, the Illinois General Assembly set up a commission consisting of MPs Samuel T. Russell, John Cochran, and William C. Murphy, to determine a new administrative center for the county in a central location. Doctor John Logan and his wife Elizabeth offered 20 acres as a site for the town and the commission accepted. The current courthouse is named after the founders, whose son is John A. Logan . In order to determine the name of the city, the commission drew a ticket from a hat containing pieces of paper with her three surnames. Murphy's name was drawn so that the new town was called Murphysboro (initially also Murphysborough).
Murphysboro enjoyed a rapid upswing, mainly due to the coal mining industry in the 19th century . South of the bridge of Old Highway 13 over the Big Muddy River, and thus just outside the city limits, was the first coal mine in the state of Illinois, which began production in 1810. The Carbon Lake located there today still bears witness to this.
Murphysboro was also important as a railway junction. The Cairo and St. Louis Railroad (C & StL) built a narrow-gauge railroad for coal freight that, coming from St. Louis , reached Murphysboro in 1873 , where a railway bridge was built over the Big Muddy. In 1875 the route in Cairo was complete. In 1886 the Mobile and Ohio Railroad (M&O, later GM&O ) rented the Cairo – St. Louis from C & StL for 45 years. In the same year, M&O had the line converted to standard gauge in order to promote the expansion of its own route network to the north. The M&O depot on Walnut Street has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) since 1984 , making it a listed building . Other lines also crossed Murphysboro, such as the Illinois Central (IC) and Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac). The Murphysboro passenger station was jointly built by M&O, IC and MoPac. An interurban (suburban streetcar) connected Murphysboro with the neighboring town of Carbondale and was mainly used for the commuter traffic of coal miners and factory workers. With the advent of the automobile, the Interurban was discontinued in 1927.
By the 1920s, Murphysboro had become more than a mining town with a railway junction: The Brown Shoe Co. had built a shoe factory in Murphysboro in 1907, which in 1925 employed more than 500 workers. Isco-Bautz , the world's largest processor of silicon dioxide at the time , had set up shop in Murphysboro, and the M&O depot had become a large repair shop.
On March 18, 1925, the tri-state tornado largely destroyed Murphysboro. 234 people died in the city, the highest number of fatalities that a tornado has ever claimed in a city in the USA. 623 city residents were injured, many so severe that amputations were necessary. The tornado cut a swath 2.5 miles long and one mile wide into the city, destroyed 1,200 homes and left half of the city's residents homeless. The city was then rebuilt.
Demographic data
According to the 2010 census , Murphysboro had 7,970 people in 3,461 households. The population density was 664.2 people per square kilometer. Statistically, 2.18 people lived in 3461 households.
The racial the population was composed of 79.8 percent white, 15.3 percent African American, 0.4 percent Native American, 0.5 percent Asian and 1.1 percent from other ethnic groups; 2.9 percent were descended from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 3.0 percent of the population.
22.4 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 59.7 percent were between 18 and 64 and 17.9 percent were 65 years or older. 52.5 percent of the population was female.
The average annual income for a household was 30,013 USD . The per capita income was $ 18,864. 25.2 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.
Known residents
- John A. Logan (1826–1886), General of the Union during the Civil War and Republican politician (born in what is now Murphysboro)
- Don Ohl (* 1936), basketball player who played in the NBA 1960–1970 (Born in Murphysboro)
- Mike Bost (* 1960), Republican Party politician, member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 1995 (born in Murphysboro)
literature
- Woodson W. Fishback: A History of Murphysboro, Illinois 1843-1982 . Quail Ridge Press, Brandon MS, 1982. (Published by the Jackson County Historical Society)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b American Fact Finder. Retrieved August 7, 2012
- ↑ Distance information according to Google Maps. Accessed on August 7, 2012
- ^ Edward Callary: Place names of Illinois . University of Illinois Press, Chicago 2009, ISBN 978-0-252-03356-8 , p. 242 .
- ^ John W. Allen: It Happened in Southern Illinois . Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 1968, ISBN 0809329689 , p. 119 .
- ↑ George Woodman Hilton: American narrow gauge railroads . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1990, ISBN 0804717311 , p. 384 .
- ↑ George Woodman Hilton: American narrow gauge railroads . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1990, ISBN 0804717311 , p. 386 .
- ↑ ILLINOIS - Jackson County on the National Register of Historic Places: Mobile and Ohio Railroad Depot , also known as the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Depot , 1701 Walnut St., Murphysboro. (NRHP image 1984, # 84000317) (Retrieved August 15, 2011.)
- ^ John W. Allen: It Happened in Southern Illinois . Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale 1968, ISBN 0809329689 , pp. 111-112 .
- ↑ Brown Shoe Factory ( Memento of August 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) of June 2, 2010.
- ↑ a b Peter S. Felknor: The Tri-State Tornado: The Story of America's Greatest Tornado Disaster . Iowa State University Press, Ames 1992, ISBN 0-8138-0623-2 , pp. 8-9 .
- ^ Federal Writers' Project : Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide . AC McClurg, Chicago 1939, p. 498 .
Web links
- Official website of the city of Murphysboro
- Jackson County Historical Society in Murphysboro, IL
- John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro