Williamson County, Illinois

Williamson County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 61,296. Its is. Williamson is a rapidly growing county in the Metro Lakeland area and is located 88 air miles (120 miles by interstate) southeast of St. Louis, MO at the intersection of Interstate 57, Interstate 24, and Illinois Route 13, a main east-west 4-lane expressway connecting the major communities of, , , , , and. Although the population is only 61,296, it is located in the heart of the Metro Lakeland area of Jackson-Williamson Counties where 120,000 citizens of Illinois make their home. Carbondale (14 miles west), and  are the key urban areas in  with a combined population of over 57,000. Over 235,000 people live within 35 miles.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,151 (444 ). 1,097 km² (423 sq mi) of it is land and 54 km² (21 sq mi) of it (4.72%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

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Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 61,296 people, 25,358 households, and 16,964 families residing in the county. The was 56/km² (145/sq mi). There were 27,703 housing units at an average density of 25/km² (65/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 95.34%, 2.49% or , 0.27% , 0.50% , 0.03% , 0.38% from , and 0.98% from two or more races. 1.24% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 25,358 households out of which 29.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.40% were living together, 10.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.10% were non-families. 28.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.90% under the age of 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 27.90% from 25 to 44, 24.10% from 45 to 64, and 16.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,991, and the median income for a family was $40,692. Males had a median income of $32,386 versus $21,570 for females. The for the county was $17,779. About 11.40% of families and 14.60% of the population were below the, including 19.60% of those under age 18 and 10.60% of those age 65 or over.

History
Williamson County was formed out of in. It is named for, and for , a physician in the and  delegate to the.

Williamson County is often referred to as "Bloody Williamson", on account of several outbreaks of violence that have few parallels in American history. These include the following: The Bloody Vendetta, 1876; Coal Strike, 1906; The, 1922; The Klan War, 1924; The Birger/Shelton War, , 1927.

The Illinois National Guard was deployed repeatedly during the 1920's to separate the warring parties and attempt to keep order.