West City, Illinois

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

West City is a village in Franklin County, Illinois, adjacent to the county seat of Benton, Illinois. The population was 716 at the 2000 census.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] History

On December 12, 1926, West City mayor Joe Adams was fatally shot at his home. Adams was allied with the Shelton Brothers Gang, prohibition-era bootleggers. His murder had been ordered by a rival gangster, Charles Birger. Birger was convicted in Franklin County court and was hanged in a public execution on April 19, 1928 in Benton.

[edit] Geography

West City is located at 37°59′40″N, 88°56′30″W (37.994564, -88.941639)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.2 km² (1.6 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 716 people, 305 households, and 193 families residing in the village. The population density was 171.7/km² (443.7/mi²). There were 330 housing units at an average density of 79.1/km² (204.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.21% White, 0.56% African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.14% Asian, and 1.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.42% of the population.

There were 305 households out of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 31.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.92.

In the village the population was spread out with 22.2% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.8 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $21,250, and the median income for a family was $28,155. Males had a median income of $21,000 versus $18,333 for females. The per capita income for the village was $12,328. About 18.5% of families and 22.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.9% of those under age 18 and 13.5% of those age 65 or over.