El Paso, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

El Paso is a city in Woodford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,695 at the 2000 census.

El Paso is a small community in Central Illinois that took on more characteristics of a highway community after Interstate 39 was built (U.S. Highway 51, the old major north/south road, was multiplexed onto the new Interstate after its construction). There are two major hotels in the city and three gas stations.

In addition, El Paso is a potential stop for Chicago-Peoria traffic via U.S. Highway 24.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 History
4 External links

[edit] Geography

El Paso is located at 40°44′20″N, 89°0′58″W (40.738800, -89.016034)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.0 km² (1.5 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 2,695 people, 980 households, and 686 families residing in the city. The population density was 671.3/km² (1,743.9/mi²). There were 1,022 housing units at an average density of 254.6/km² (661.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.89% White, 0.15% African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.22% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 0.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.71% of the population.

There were 980 households out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.9% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 92.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $47,745, and the median income for a family was $55,286. Males had a median income of $36,406 versus $25,174 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,730. About 1.6% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.1% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

In August of 1975, the city became the last locality in the continental United States to convert its telephone service from manual switching; prior to that time, telephones in the city could not be dialed directly from any outside location (the assistance of an operator being necessary to place the call) and local telephone numbers consisted of four digits only (certain of the outer Aleutian Islands of Alaska could not be dialed directly until the early 1980s).

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, renowned televangelist from the 1950s, was born here in 1895.