Murphysboro, Illinois
Jackson County
17-51453
Murphysboro is a city ( with a status of "City" ) and the administrative seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Illinois. In 2010, Murphysboro had 7970 inhabitants.
Geography
Murphysboro is located on the Big Muddy River, which flows into the Mississippi of the city 40 km south. The city is located at 37 ° 46 'N, 89 ° 20' W37.767222222222 - 89.337222222222 and extends over 12 km ².
Neighbouring localities are Vergennes (16,4 km to the north ), De Soto (12,2 km northeast), Carbondale (12,2 km southeast), Gorham (17,7 km southwest), Ava (25,8 km northwest ).
The nearest large towns are St. Louis, Missouri (143 km north-west ), Louisville, Kentucky (361 km east), Tennessee's capital Nashville (344 km south-east ) and Tennessee's largest city of Memphis ( 351 km south-southwest ).
Traffic
In the Murphysboro Illinois State Routes take 13, 127 and 149 together. All other roads are minor roadways or urban roads.
Due to the north-west of the city is a railway line of the Union Pacific Railroad.
With the Southern Illinois Airport is located on the eastern outskirts of a regional airport. The nearest major airport is the Lambert -Saint Louis International Airport (164 km north-west ).
History
Murphysboro was founded in 1843 to serve as the new county seat of Jackson County after a fire had destroyed the courthouse and thus the management of the County in Brownsville. Brownsville - a ghost town - was located at the mouth of Kinkaid Creek in the Big Muddy River, and thus on the edge of Jackson County. On 27 February 1843, the Illinois General Assembly set up a commission consisting of the deputies Samuel T. Russell, John Cochran and William C. Murphy, which should establish a new administrative headquarters for the County in central location. The doctor John Logan and his wife, Elizabeth offered a plot of 20 acres ( 80,000 m²) as the site for the city, and the Commission adopted. The present courthouse is named after the founders, whose son John A. Logan. To specify the name of the city, the Commission took a lot out of a hat, in the note were with their three surnames. The name of Murphy was drawn so that the new city of Murphysboro (initially also Murphysborough ) said.
Murphysboro took a quick recovery, in the 19th century mainly by the coal industry. South of the bridge of Old Highway 13 over the Big Muddy River, and thus just outside the city limits, there was the first coal mine in the state of Illinois, which in 1810 took up the promotion. The now located there carboxylic Lake bears witness to it.
Murphysboro had importance as a railway junction. The Cairo and St. Louis Railroad (C & StL ) built a narrow-gauge railway for coal freight, which reached in 1873 by coming St. Louis Murphysboro, where a railway bridge over the Big Muddy was built. In 1875 the route in Cairo was complete. 1886 rented the Mobile and Ohio Railroad (M & O and later GM & O) the route Cairo- St. Louis for 45 years by the C & StL. That same year, M & O had rebuilt the track to standard gauge to carry the expansion of one's own route network to the north. The depot of the M & O in the Walnut Street is listed since 1984 on the National Register of Historic Places ( NRHP), and thus is a protected monument. Other lines crossed Murphysboro, the Illinois Central ( IC) and Missouri Pacific Railroad ( MoPac ). The passenger station of Murphysboro was built jointly by M & O, IC and MoPac. A Interurban (local tram) joined with the neighboring town of Murphysboro Carbondale, and served mainly the rush of coal miners and factory workers. With the advent of the car of the Interurban in 1927 has been set.
Until the 1920s from Murphysboro more than a mining town had become with railway junction: The Brown Shoe Co. had built in Murphysboro in 1907 a shoe factory, which employed more than 500 workers in 1925. Isco Bautz, at that time the world's largest processor of silica had settled in Murphysboro, and the depot of the M & O had become a major repair operation.
On March 18, 1925, the Tri-State Tornado Murphysboro destroyed to a large extent. Here in the city of 234 people, the highest number of casualties has ever required in the U.S., a tornado in a city died. 623 city residents were injured, many so severe that amputation was necessary. The tornado cut a swath 2.5 miles long and a mile wide in the city, destroyed 1,200 homes and made half of urban residents homeless. The city was rebuilt after.
Demographic data
According to the census in 2010 lived in Murphysboro 7970 people in 3461 households. The population density was 664.2 inhabitants per square kilometer. In the 3461 households lived statistically 2.18 per person.
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. Regardless of ethnicity were 3.0 percent of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
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 median annual income for a household was $ 30,013. The per capita income was $ 18,864. 25.2 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.
Memorable people
- John A. Logan (1826-1886), General of the Union in the Civil War and Republican politician ( born on the territory of today Murphysboro )
- Don Ohl ( b. 1936 ), basketball player who played in the NBA from 1960 to 1970 ( Born in Murphysboro )
- Mike Bost ( b. 1960 ), politician of the Republican Party, since 1995 deputy in the Illinois House of Representatives ( Born in Murphysboro )