Streator, Illinois
LaSalle County Livingston County
17-73170
Streator is a city in LaSalle County and to a lesser extent in Livingston County in the U.S. state of Illinois at the Vermilion River. In 2000, Streator had 14,190 inhabitants.
Geography
Streator is located at 41 ° 07'15 " north latitude and 88 ° 50'07 " west longitude. The city covers 15.0 square kilometers, spread over 114.9 km ² land and 0.1 km ² water surface.
Streator is located either side of the Vermilion River, which flows at 39.6 kilometers by road north-west lying Oglesby in the Illinois River.
Through the village run the Illinois State Routes 18 and 23, 20 km west of the city extends Interstate 39 This is part of the connection of Wisconsin's capital Madison ( past the 156 km distant Rockford 266 km north of Streator ) to St. Louis in Missouri ( about 202 km away, Springfield 361 km southwest of Streator ). Chicago is located 157 km to the northeast, Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee 272 km in a north - northeasterly direction and the Quad Cities 181 km west- north-westerly direction.
Streator is also junction of several rail lines.
History
The first known inhabitants of the area were the Kaskaskia, a strain which belonged to the Illiniwek Confederacy. They were hunters, gatherers, warriors and traders. The Illiniwek were the last carrier of the Mississippian culture.
The first Europeans in the area were the French in 1673, Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet. Marquette founded in 1675 in the main settlement of Kaskaskia a mission station. Since the Iroquois attacked the Kaskaskia often, the French explorer La Salle was a fortified post at the point where the rock is now known as Starved, build. The attacks of the Iroquois lasted, however, so that by 1691 the settlement was abandoned. In the years after the first exploration of the region, the French began to colonize the now -called new Louisiana colony. In the course of the 18th century, French and British fur trappers and traders settled.
After the French and Indian War in 1763, France lost control of all the territories east of the Mississippi. After the American Revolutionary War, the Illinois Territory was founded in 1809, which was recorded in 1818 as the 21st state in the Union.
The city of Chicago was the center of the now rapidly developing region. For the development of Streator Illinois and Michigan Canal especially was important. A waterway from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River was created by the channel and the ship traffic in the region was an important economic factor. The towns along the rivers and canals developed rapidly.
Since there were large coal deposits near the surface, this was increasingly promoted in the area of Streator. It was due to the increasing industrialization of a large demand for coal and so was invested in production facilities.
1866 financed the railroad magnate Worthy S. Streator from Cleveland, Ohio, the first coal mine, after he had his nephew Ralph Plumb entrusted with the management of coal mining in the central Illinois. The success of the project has created a need for rail lines to the mines. Plumb and Streater took the former deputies and later President James A. Garfield with the business to use its influence. Garfield should ensure that the hub for all rail lines the wider environment created in the city of Streator. This plan failed, however.
At Plumbs tasks was also in the rapidly growing area to parcel out land and prepare it for colonization. The settlement was founded in 1968 and 1882 raised to town. Plumb was the first mayor of the city. Later, the deputy of the House of Representatives.
Due to the demand for coal in the Chicago area, increasing immigration from Europe and the investments from the industrial cities of the east coast of the city of Streator grew very quickly. The need for workers in the Vermilion Coal Company could hardly be met. There have been advertisements for job opportunities in Streator on shipping companies and railway companies. For new miners plots were provided favorable, the mining company said but kept the mineral rights.
1870 Streator 1,486 inhabitants, in 1880, the population had tripled. Scottish, English, Welsh, German and Irish immigrants came first, later followed mainly Slovaks and smaller groups of Czechs, Austrians and Hungarians. Today's inhabitants are descendants of these miners.
Through the prosperous coal mining and the newly added glass industry is a growing prosperity developed. A 1884 survey carried out of the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics brought out that 20 % of the mine workers lived in their own houses.
In his 1877 published history of the LaSalle County noticed the author H. F. Klett:
Probably no city ... in Illinois, with the exception of the great city of Chicago, such a rapid growth as Streator. From a small grocery store ... the place has developed into a prosperous town with 6,000 inhabitants efficient. Churches, schools, great shops and handsome houses with pretty gardens today adorn the primitive place of ten years ago, while the machine continues buzzing and bustling shopping streets, an unmistakable testimony to the importance of economic growth put.
In addition to coal, there were around Streator also extensive deposits of loam and clay, so that brick- and ceramic industry was born. The most important export products of Streator was coal, but the reputation of the city was due to its glass industry. At the beginning of the 20th century Streator was referred to as the "capital of the glass industry."
The growth continued until the early 20th century. The coal was but now increasingly replaced by gas and oil, which led to the closure of most of the coal mines in the 1920s. The last closed in 1958. Whereas other regions in LaSalle County continued to grow, the number of inhabitants reached in Streator in 1960 peaked and declined since then. Many buildings fell in the city center. One reason for the stagnation was that the city had no direct access to major highways.
Many of the original buildings have been demolished downtown, but few have been Replaced. Another reason for static growth in Streator is its distance from any major interstate highway. When the federal highway system started in the 1950s and 1960s no interstate which built near the city. Streator is 23 miles ( 37.0 km ) from Interstate 55, 16 miles ( 25.8 km ) from Interstate 80 and Interstate 39 Thus it was decided a plan to improve the transport infrastructure in 2007.
Economy
Streator is named after the industrialist Worthy S. Streator. The development of the city founded in 1868 go in this time heavily dependent on coal mining, the glass industry and the importance as a major railway hub. Today the most important companies in the heavy equipment Bauer Vactor, food manufacturer U.S. Foodservice and the glass manufacturer Owens- Illinois.
Demographic data
In the census of 2000 a population of 14,190 was determined. These distributed to 5,746 households in 3,660 families. The population density was 960.7 / km ². There were 6,149 residential buildings, which corresponded to a housing density of 416.3 / km ².
The population consisted in 2000 of 94.3 % White, 2.1% Black or African American, 0.2% Native Americans, 0.5 % Asian and 1.5% other. 1.5 % said to be descended from at least two of these groups. 6.6% of the population were Hispanics who belonged to the various of the aforementioned groups.
25.9 % were under the age of 18, 8.3 % from 18 to 24, 25.9 % 25-44, 21.0% from 45 to 64 and 19.0 % 65 and older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females were statistically 91.7 men in the over 18 -year-olds 87.3.
The median income per household was $ 33,868, the median family income $ 43,774. The median income for men was $ 34,932, and for women about $ 20,994. The per capita income amounted to $ 16,650. Around 8.3% of families and 11.3 % of the total population were below the poverty line income.
Sons and daughters of the city
- Clarence E. Mulford (1883-1956) - inventor of the cowboy character Hopalong Cassidy
- Edward H. Plumb (1907-1958) - Composer
- Clyde Tombaugh (1906-1997) - Astronomer, discoverer of Pluto
Pictures
The Carnegie Library, the building was inclusion in the NRHP
The Silas Williams House ( NRHP)
The Ruffin Drew Fletcher House ( NRHP)