Galesburg, Illinois
Encyclopedia : G : GA : GAL : Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 33,706. It is the county seat of Knox County[Geographic references#6GR6]. Galesburg is home to Knox College, a private four-year liberal arts college, and Carl Sandburg College, a two-year community college.
Geography
Galesburg is located at (40.952292, -90.368545)[Geographic references#1GR1]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 44.2 km² (17.1 mi²). 43.8 km² (16.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.5 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (1.05%) is water.History
Galesburg was founded by George Washington Gale, a minister of the gospel from New York state who dreamed of establishing a manual labor college which became Knox College. A committee from New York purchased 17 acres (69,000 m²) in Knox County in 1835, and the first 25 settlers arrived in 1836. They built temporary cabins in Log City near current Lake Storey, just north of Galesburg, having decided that no log cabins were to be built inside the town limits.Galesburg was home to the first anti-slavery society in Illinois, founded in 1837, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The city was the site of the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, on a temporary speaker's platform attached to Knox College's Old Main building on October 7, 1858. Knox College continues to maintain Old Main to this day.
Galesburg was the home of Mary Ann Bickerdyke, who provided hospital care for Union soldiers during the American Civil War. After the Civil War, Galesburg was the birthplace of poet and historian Carl Sandburg, poet and artist Dorothea Tanning, and former Major League Baseball star Jim Sundberg. Carl Sandburg's boyhood home is now operated by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as the Carl Sandburg State Historic Site.
Throughout much of its history, Galesburg has been inextricably tied to the railroad industry. Local businessmen were major backers of the first railroad to connect Illinois' (then) two biggest cities—Chicago and Quincy—as well as a third leg initially terminating across the river from Burlington, Iowa, eventually connecting to it via bridge and thence onward to the Western frontier. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad sited major rail sorting yards here, including the first to use hump sorting.
In the late 19th century, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway connected its service through to Chicago, it also laid track through Galesburg, making this city one of relatively few to be served by multiple railroads and even fewer to have multiple railroad depots. (Indeed, it was not until the 1990s that Amtrak finally closed the old Santa Fe depot and consolidated all passenger operations into the site of the former Burlington Northern depot.) A series of mergers eventually united both tracks under the ownership of BNSF Railway, carrying an average of seven trains per hour between them. As of the closing of the Maytag plant in fall of 2004, BNSF is once again one of the largest private employers in Galesburg.
Recently, layoffs at Maytag and elsewhere have caused Galesburg to enter a period of high unemployment. The city is having some difficulty adjusting its economy to new post-industrial needs, although a popular "Get it in Galesburg" campaign has been somewhat successful at mitigating the worst effects by keeping dollars circulating locally as long as possible. The ultimate outcome of the adjustment remains to be seen, although the opening of several new small businesses is somewhat encouraging. Galesburg also has multiple newspapers. The Galesburg Register Mail has been operating since the late 19th Century and is the main newspaper of the city. It comes daily. There is also "The Paper" which comes every Thursday and requires no subscription. The there is the "Zephyr" which is named for the "California Zephyr" Train that famously traveled through the town. The "Zephyr" is much like "The Register Mail."
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 33,706 people, 13,237 households, and 7,902 families residing in the city. The population density was 770.1/km² (1,994.9/mi²). There were 14,133 housing units at an average density of 322.9/km² (836.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.23% White, 10.20% African American, 0.22% Native American, 1.03% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.46% from other races, and 1.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.01% of the population.There were 13,237 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.6% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.87.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.1% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,987, and the median income for a family was $41,796. Males had a median income of $31,698 versus $21,388 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,214. About 10.7% of families and 14.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.4% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.
This has changed drastically as several major employers in Galesburg have all moved operations from Galesburg to Mexico. This was such a huge blow to the region that Barack Obama mentioned it at the last democratic party national convention. Galesburg will also be home to the National Railroad Hall of Fame.
Festivals
Galesburg is the home of the Railroad Days festival, held on the fourth weekend of June. The festival began in 1978. During the festival, Carl Sandburg College hosts one of the largest model railroad layouts in the U.S. Midwest.Notable natives
- George Radcliffe Colton, Governor of Puerto Rico, 1909 - 1913
- George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., inventor of the Ferris Wheel
- Aaron Fike and A.J. Fike, NASCAR drivers
- Todd Hamilton, professional golfer
- Carl Sandburg, American poet, historian, novelist, and folklorist
- Kathryn Scott, textile conservator ("Napoleon's laundress")
- Jim Sundberg, Major League Baseball player
- Pete Weber, sports broadcaster
External links
- [Mr. Lincoln and Freedom: Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Galesburg]
- [City of Galesburg]
- Local papers:
- * [The Register-Mail] (daily)
- * [The Zephyr] (weekly)
- * [The Paper] (weekly, free)
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.