Bunker Hill, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since February 2006. (help, talk)

Bunker Hill is a city in Macoupin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,801 at the 2000 census.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] History

This history of Bunker Hill was summarized from several sources, Bunker Hill-Woodburn History Book, Reflections, and early issues of the Bunker Hill Gazette-News.

The site of the present town of Bunker Hill was once known to the early settlers of Macoupin county as Wolf Ridge. It was this named because wolves lived in the area. The choice of the name, Bunker Hill, was not due to the existence of any great elevation, but rather to the fact that there is a hill here somewhat like that upon which the famous battle of the Revolution was fought and because those who gave the name came from a section of the country in which Bunker Hill was familiar and held in great reverence.

The earliest inhabitants of the community were the Peoria, Kickapoo and Winnebago Indians.

One of the earliest settlers of the township was John Cooper, a native of Tennessee, who built a house on the edge of the prairie.

In the neighborhood of the Springfield road, leading from Springfield to St. Louis, several settlements were made. In 1830, the first settler in this immediate vicinity was Elijah Lincoln, occupying the prairie about a mile and a half south-west of the present site of Bunker Hill. He and a Mr. Tuttle laid out the town of Lincoln, naming it in honor of Elijah Lincoln. Early in 1836, Dr. Budden built an ox mill near the settlement. In June of the same year the saw mill was dismantled of its power, i.e. the ox, in default of money loaned by Messrs. True and Tilden. After the dismantling, Mr. Colby placed his house on eight wheels, and with the two teams of oxen, moved his house (leaving only one house in Lincoln) to a new location near the Woodburn Mill. Woodburn was considerably elated at this addition as half a town came rolling in. No traces of the town of Lincoln now remain.

The earliest post office was established in 1833, about a mile south of "Lincoln." About 1831, the first school house was built. In the school house, the first sermon was preached in the township by Elder William Jones, a member of the Baptist denomination, with which a great part of the early settlers of the township were connected. The first church was built by "Hard Shell" Baptists. The second was the Congregational Church at Woodburn.

In 1834, Luke Knowlton, then county surveyor, entered 80 acres of land covering the central position of Bunker Hill.

On Christmas day, 1835, Moses True from Salisbury, New Hampshire and John Tilden from Boston, visited the settlement in company with Robert Smith of Alton. A company was formed, with the object of laying out a town and improving the surrounding country.

[edit] Geography

Bunker Hill is located at 39°2′29″N, 89°57′3″W (39.041452, -89.950898)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²). 3.1 km² (1.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (1.67%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 1,801 people, 697 households, and 496 families residing in the city. The population density was 589.3/km² (1,526.9/mi²). There were 742 housing units at an average density of 242.8/km² (629.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.50% White, 1.22% African American, 0.11% Asian, 0.28% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.72% of the population.

There were 697 households out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.8% were non-families. 26.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 88.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,156, and the median income for a family was $45,885. Males had a median income of $35,227 versus $23,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,798. About 8.8% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.3% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.