Grayville, Illinois

Grayville
City
The William W. Gray House, a local landmark
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Edwards, White
Coordinates	38°15′33″N 87°59′48″W / 38.25917°N 87.99667°WCoordinates: 38°15′33″N 87°59′48″W / 38.25917°N 87.99667°W
Area	2.18 sq mi (6 km^2)
- land	2.13 sq mi (6 km^2)
- water	0.04 sq mi (0 km^2)
Population	1,725 (2000)
Density	1,158.2/sq mi (447/km^2)
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Postal code	62844
Area code	618
Location of Grayville within Illinois
Wikimedia Commons: Grayville, Illinois
Website: http://cityofgrayville.com/

Grayville is a city in Edwards and White counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 Census, the city’s population was 1,666, reflecting a decrease of 59 (-3.4%) from the 1,725 in 2000. Grayville is the birthplace of naval hero James Meredith Helm.

History

Grayville was founded in about 1810 by the head of the Gray family, James Gray. ^[1]

Geography

Grayville is located at 38°15′33″N 87°59′48″W / 38.25917°N 87.99667°W (38.259146, -87.996678).^[2]

According to the 2010 census, Grayville has a total area of 2.173 square miles (5.63 km²), of which 2.13 square miles (5.52 km²) (or 98.02%) is land and 0.043 square miles (0.11 km²) (or 1.98%) is water.^[3]

Roads

In Grayville, Illinois Route 130 meets Illinois Route 1, and Route 1 meets Interstate 64.

Grayville was built on the Wabash River. While it is no longer on any major rail line, it was home to a large rail bridge across the Wabash into Indiana, but sections of that bridge collapsed in January 2005 due to a major flood^[4] of the Wabash River.

In late 2005, an ethanol plant was proposed for the Grayville area, and the construction of the plant would have included rebuilding the bridge and rail lines leading to it on both the Indiana and Illinois sides of the river, but as of July 2009, neither the plant nor the bridge have been built.^[5][6]

The largest bridge to Indiana south of Lawrenceville, and the only Interstate link between Illinois and Indiana south of Terre Haute, the I-64 river crossing runs parallel to the collapsed rail bridge, about 1000 feet upstream.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1880	1,533		—
1890	1,999		30.4%
1900	1,948		−2.6%
1910	1,940		−0.4%
1920	1,749		−9.8%
1930	1,904		8.9%
1940	2,240		17.6%
1950	2,461		9.9%
1960	2,280		−7.4%
1970	2,035		−10.7%
1980	2,313		13.7%
1990	2,043		−11.7%
2000	1,725		−15.6%
2010	1,666		−3.4%
Est. 2015	1,626	[7]	−2.4%
U.S. Decennial Census[8]

As of the census^[9] of 2000, there were 1,725 people, 754 households, and 478 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,158.2 people per square mile (447.0/km²). There were 833 housing units at an average density of 559.3 per square mile (215.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.67% White, 0.12% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.23% of the population.

There were 754 households out of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.5% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.8% 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 2.76.

In the city the population was spread out with 19.4% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 24.2% from 45 to 64, and 24.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 85.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,000, and the median income for a family was $36,944. Males had a median income of $30,250 versus $16,579 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,318. About 9.1% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.0% of those under age 18 and 13.5% of those age 65 or over.

The River

Grayville had been at the northern end of a four-mile-long oxbow bend of the main channel of the Wabash River. The river changed course after a flood in 1985, with the end result being that the town is now two miles from the river channel. Bonpas Creek trickles through a portion of the former river channel, creating continued access to water for canoes, rafts, and extremely shallow-draft small boats.

References

1. "City Of Grayville | Grayville History". cityofgrayville.com. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
2. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
3. "G001 - Geographic Identifiers - 2010 Census Summary File 1". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
4. NWS Paducah, KY
5. http://www.cityofgrayville.com/news.htm
6. http://www.sailillinois.com/ethanol.html
7. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015". Retrieved July 2, 2016.
8. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
9. "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.

External links