Dahlgren, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dahlgren is a village in Hamilton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 514 at the 2000 census.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Commerce and Transportation
4 Media and Communication
5 Government and Schools
6 Demographics
7 External links

[edit] Geography

Dahlgren is located at 38°11′57″N, 88°41′9″W (38.199117, -88.685737)^GR1. The mean elevation of the village is 155.5 meters (510 feet).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.6 km² (1.0 mi²), all land.

[edit] History

Dahlgren was established on March 29, 1872 by Deed of Dedication. On that date Alexander M. Sturman formally conveyed to the new town one square mile (2.6 km²) of land that had been platted the previous autumn. Its founding coincided with the construction of the Saint Louis & Southeastern Railway when most of the residents of the hamlet of Lovilla relocated to the new rail line from a former stage route that ran a few miles to the southeast of present-day Dahlgren along the northern "High Road" branch of the old Goshen Road.

Dahlgren was named for Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, a prominent Union officer during the American Civil War, and shareholder in the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which later acquired the St. Louis & Southeastern.

It reached its peak population around 1910, at that time supporting numerous local businesses, a hotel and an opera house.

Dahlgren suffered general economic migration and decline beginning with the economic depression of the 1930's. As roads were improved and automobiles became more widely used the primacy of local businesses waned as residents were able to begin trading in larger towns located farther away.

The decline continued until the early 1970's culminating with the end of passenger rail service effective May 1, 1971 and the closing of the local high school a few years later. Even the arrival of the interstate highway system in the mid-1970's did not spur economic growth as the village board at the time elected to refuse local access to the highway.

Since that time, despite the closing of all but a handful of local businesses, the economic situation has stabilized and improved. The remaining local niche retailers have established strong trade and new manufacturing interests have expanded. Residential real estate is becoming highly desirable owing to its relative scarcity and Dahlgren's reputation for excellent "quality of life."

Much of the brick-facade business district has fallen into ruin, yet the historic original St. L. & S.E. Railroad Depot remains in excellent condition, a superb example of "Railroad Gingerbread" style.

[edit] Commerce and Transportation

Agriculture remains the primary economic activity in the vicinity of Dahlgren. Other business activity includes retail sales and manufacturing, including the fabrication of custom cabinetry and countertops.

Dahlgren is located on Illinois Route 142 (formerly U.S. Route 460). The nearest access to the interstate highway system (I-64) is 10.5 km (6.5 miles) to the northwest. The Evansville Western Railway (EVWR) (formerly CSX Transportation) provides freight rail service to Dahlgren. CSX divested 200 km (124.5 miles) of rail line from Evansville, IN to Okawville, IL to the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL), an operating entity of Four Rivers Transportation, Inc., in a transaction whereby CSX sold all track, ties and track equipment to PAL and provided a 20-year lease on the right-of-way. Upon completion of the sale on 31 December 2005 PAL transferred all interests to the new Class III operating entity/subsidiary, EVWR, which began operating on 1 January 2006. CSX (formerly the Louisville & Nashville R.R.) retains title to all real estate on which the railroad is situated.

Dahlgren has no regularly scheduled passenger services. The nearest airports providing service are Marion Williamson County Regional Airport (MWA), Evansville Dress Regional Airport (EVV) and Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport (STL). The nearest passenger rail connection (AMTRAK) is in Centralia, Illinois. Interstate bus service is available in Mount Vernon, Illinois approx 30 kilometers (17 miles) northwest.

[edit] Media and Communication

Dahlgren has had no locally published newspaper since the cessation of publication of The Dahlgren Echo many years ago. The current newspaper of record is The McLeansboro Times-Leader published weekly in the county seat. Area daily newspapers available for home delivery include The Morning Sentinel (Centralia & Mt. Vernon, IL) and The Mount Vernon Register News. The Southern Illinoisan, published in Carbondale, is the largest circulation daily in the region.

Dahlgren is in the Harrisburg, IL / Cape Girardeau, MO / Paducah, KY television Designated Market Area (DMA) as defined by Nielsen Media Research and receives over-the-air reception of 3ABN (W15BU), ABC (WSIL), CBS (KFVS), FOX (KBSI), NBC (WPSD), i:Independent Television/PAX (WPXS), PBS (WSIU), TBN (WTCT) and MyNetworkTV (WDKA) affiliate broadcasts. Owing to affiliation conflicts and broadcasting power issues Dahlgren is without over-the-air reception of the new CW Network. Sinclair Broadcast Group owned both the Fox and WB affiliates in the DMA prior to the September 2006 merger of UPN and WB into a newly created CW Network and was forced by Fox to convert its WB affiliate (WDKA) into a MyNetworkTV affiliate (MY49) . This allowed Raycom Media, owner of the local CBS and UPN affiliates, to convert its UPN affiliation (WQWQ) to The CW. WQWQ, nicknamed "Weak, Weak," is a low-power station whose analog signal is not available over the air in Dahlgren. Cable television service (analog), previously available from Longview Communication, was terminated in 2006.

Wireless telephony services are provided by Cingular (GSM850/GSM1900), T-Mobile (GSM1900), AllTel (formerly First Cellular of Southern Illinois (now CDMA-only although legacy GSM850 service still operates), Verizon (CDMA), Nextel Partners (iDEN), and Sprint PCS (CDMA).

Local telephone and DSL service is available through the Hamilton County Telephone Cooperative (Hamilton County Communications).

[edit] Government and Schools

Dahlgren is governed by a Village President and Board of Trustees whose members are elected to staggered terms. Jasper C. Goin, Jr. was elected village president in 2005. The village provides basic utility services including water, sewer, gas and refuse removal.

Dahlgren is located within the Hamilton County Unit 10 school district. Elementary-age children attend Dahlgren Grade School through grade 6. Junior High School and High School students travel to the county seat of McLeansboro where a new combined school complex was completed in 2001. Dahlgren is also in Community College District #521 (Rend Lake College located Ina, Illinois) as established by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. However, university and college-age students are not restricted to attending in their local district.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 514 people, 217 households, and 139 families residing in the village, although 1,528 people are served by the Dahlgren post office (ZIP code 62828). The population density was 198.5/km² (512.1/mi²). There were 245 housing units at an average density of 94.6/km² (244.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 100.00% White. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.97% of the population.

There were 217 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.4% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the village the population was spread out with 24.9% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.2 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $26,944, and the median income for a family was $34,886. Males had a median income of $27,500 versus $16,705 for females. The per capita income for the village was $13,862. About 9.9% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.3% of those under age 18 and 24.2% of those age 65 or over.