Grand Tower, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grand Tower is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 624 at the 2000 census. The town gets its name from Tower Rock, a landmark island in the Mississippi River.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] Geography

Grand Tower is located at 37°37′57″N, 89°30′7″W (37.632599, -89.501944)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²), all land.

[edit] History

Former names of this town include Cap de Saint Croix (French: "Cape of the Holy Cross"), after a cross placed on top of Tower Rock by French missionaries; La Tour (French: "The Tower") after the same landmark; and Evans' Landing.

The Earliest European inhabitants were a band of river pirates, who settled here after being driven off of Spanish soil west of the Mississippi River. This settlement was destroyed by the United States Cavalry in 1803. A subsequent settler was a man named Walker, who is the namesake of Walker HIll.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 624 people, 268 households, and 169 families residing in the city. The population density was 191.2/km² (496.0/mi²). There were 309 housing units at an average density of 94.7/km² (245.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.24% White, 0.16% African American, 0.32% Native American, 0.64% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.96% of the population.

There were 268 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.3% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.9% were non-families. 33.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.1% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,135, and the median income for a family was $40,000. Males had a median income of $34,375 versus $23,750 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,525. About 11.3% of families and 20.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.4% of those under age 18 and 16.1% of those age 65 or over.