Albion, Illinois

Albion is a city in and the county seat of Edwards County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,933 at the 2000 census.

Geography
Albion is located at 38.37722°N, -88.06111°W (38.377300, -88.061028). In it, Illinois Route 130 and Illinois Route 15 meet.

According to the 2010 census, the city has a total area of 2.20 sqmi, of which 2.15 sqmi (or 97.73%) is land and 0.05 sqmi (or 2.27%) is water.

History
Albion was founded soon after the end of the War of 1812 by a colony of Englishmen led by George Flower. The American settlers in Edwards County, many of them veterans of that war, mostly from Kentucky, viewed the English colony with great suspicion.

Flower came to America in 1816. He and Morris Birkbeck, another Englishman, met and agreed to explore the western country with the idea of starting a colony of their own countrymen. After a long journey through Ohio, Indiana, and the Illinois Territory, they were so impressed with the beauty of the countryside around Boultinghouse Prairie that they knew they had found what they were looking for. They bought all the land they could afford, and eventually brought over from England more than 200 settlers, £100,000 in capital, and a carefully thought out selection of livestock and agricultural implements. The area became known as the English Settlement.

In 1824, the county seat of Edwards County was moved from Palmyra to Albion. Residents of Mount Carmel felt the county seat should be in Mount Carmel and not Albion. Four companies of militia marched from Mount Carmel toward Albion to seize the county documents stored in the courthouse. The situation was resolved by separating Wabash County from Edwards County at the Bon Pas Creek in 1824. The divided counties remain two of the smallest in Illinois.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,933 people, 861 households, and 538 families residing in the city. The population density was 903.8 people per square mile (348.8/km²). There were 957 housing units at an average density of 447.5 per square mile (172.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.71% White, 0.16% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.57% Asian, 0.21% from other races, and 0.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.57% of the population.

There were 861 households out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.4% were non-families. 34.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.6% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 24.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,476, and the median income for a family was $36,917. Males had a median income of $26,182 versus $17,375 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,747. About 8.6% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.0% of those under age 18 and 9.3% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

 * Harold Huntley Bassett, U.S. Air Force Major General
 * Louis Lincoln Emmerson, served as Secretary of State of Illinois and Governor of Illinois
 * Benjamin Orange Flower, radical journalist
 * Edward Fordham Flower, English brewer
 * Harold A. Garman, U.S. Army medic and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II
 * Guy U. Hardy, former congressman from Colorado
 * Jeff Keener, former pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals
 * Bruce Mendenhall, confessed serial killer
 * George Frederick Pentecost, prominent clergyman, evangelist and co-worker with revivalist D.L. Moody
 * William Pickering, fifth governor of Washington territory