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Lawrenceville is a city in Lawrence County, Illinois, along the Embarras River. The population was 4,745 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lawrence County. Lawrenceville is located in southeast Illinois, northwest of Vincennes, Indiana. The city is home to an old Texaco oil refinery that is now a Superfund site.
The city is home of the Lawrenceville "Indians", Illinois Class A high school state basketball champions in 1972, 1974, and back-to-back in 1982 and 1983, which had a combined two season win-loss record of 68-0. The team was coached by Ron Felling, who, after the 1983 season at Lawrenceville, went on to Indiana as assistant coach to Bobby Knight.
Lawrenceville has one radio station, WAKO AM and FM. It has a somewhat comical history. The original owner, Stuart K. Lankford, lost the radio station and other holdings during a poker game with other community "leaders," notably Tyler Howard, mayor during that time.
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,745 people, 2,024 households, and 1,190 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,346.8 people per square mile (907.0/km²). There were 2,262 housing units at an average density of 1,118.8/sq mi (432.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.85% White, 0.91% African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.40% from other races, and 0.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.43% of the population.
There were 2,024 households out of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 37.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.82.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.0% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 28.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 78.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $24,951, and the median income for a family was $32,042. Males had a median income of $27,128 versus $20,451 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,717. About 13.9% of families and 16.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.7% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
It was during the second year of the Civil War and during the second engagement of the battle of Antietam that Sept. 17, 1862, the War Department sent a hurry order to the superintendent of the Arsenal for a supply of ammunition. Col. Simonton, who was commandant at the arsenal, had just completed a new ballast driveway leading from the Butler St. entrance to the magazine house.
A team hauling a wagonload of powder was the first vehicle to use the road. As it rumbled over the new road it is thought that fire struck by the horses' shoes ignited some scrappings of powder that littered the driveway. Then followed one of the worst catastrophes in the history of the city.
The driver of the wagon and a small boy who accompanied him were blown to atoms. The magazine house in which were employed 83 persons, mostly girls, was demolished and some of the bodies were never found.
The force of the explosion wrecked houses, tore down ceilings and shattered windows in dwellings for miles around. The detonation was heard from the forks of the road to the Sharpsburg bridge and many persons thought they were in the midst of an earthquake. For more than a week the entire city was plunged in mourning.
Heckwelder says that the Delawares called the site, after its occupation by the French, Menachk-sink, "where there is a fence." Menachk, "a fence," is also "a fort." Zeisberger gives the word, Menachkhasu, "a fortified place." In the boundary dispute with Maryland, concerning the situation of the Conestoga fort at the mouth of Octorara Creek, James Hendricks said that some Indians told him that the Indians called the site, "Meanock, which they said, in English signified a Fortification or Fortified Town" (Archives, Sec. Ser., XVI. 522). This word is the same as both Heckwelder and Zeisberger give, Menachk. Darlington gives the Iroquois form, Cheonderoga, as being the name of the place at the junction of the two rivers (Gist's Jour. 273). The Seneca name, which has been variously corrupted, was Diondega. This is the name used in "The Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet" (20, 140). The "Gaiwiio" reads, "They land at Diondega. It is a little village of white people. Here they barter their skins, dried meat, and fresh game for strong drink. They put a barrel of it in their canoes. Now all the canoes are lashed together like a raft. Now all the men become filled with strong drink. They yell and sing like demented people" (p. 20). The "Gaiwhiio" then goes on to tell of the drunken fights, debauchery and crime caused by "goniga-nongi" (strong drink). The various Seneca names given by various writers are all, no doubt, corruptions of this name, which probably gave Washington and other early visitors to the place, the common English name of "The Forks." Pownall's note, which Darlington uses, in explaining the situation of "Trois Rivieres," which he places at Pittsburgh, is the cause of Darlington's error. "Trois Rivieres," as used in all of the French documents, had reference, not to the site of Pittsburgh, but to the "Three Rivers," on the north side of the St. Lawrence River, in Canada. While the name "Trois Rivieres" might have been applied to the site of Pittsburgh, by the French writers, it never was so used, but was, without a single exception, used of the place in Canada, long before the site of Pittsburgh had been visited by a white man. All of the children of Pierre Couc were born at "Three Rivers." Andrew, the first to hear the name of Montour, was born there in 1659 (Egle's Notes and Queries, Fourth Ser., II. 327, 1895). Father Lambing, in "The Centenary of the Borough of Pittsburgh," (p. 10) says, "Da-un-da-ga, which stood directly in the forks--the name is of Seneca origin, and is said to mean simply "the forks." He also says that he can find no authority for this name (Consult, Frontier Forts, II. 163-164). The name used by Father Lambing and others is a corruption of the name Diondega as used in the Code of Handsome Lake, before mentioned. This Seneca name is a form of the other Iroquois names used for the junction of the two branches of the Susquehanna at Tioga Point. This name, variously written, Diahoga, Tionioga, etc., has been corrupted to Tioga (which see). The "Written Rock" village mentioned by Celoron in 1749, was not, as is stated in Frontier Forts (II. 164) at the site of Pittsburgh, but at the present McKees Rocks, where "Queen Allaquippa" was then living (See Allaquippa). The only Indian village at the site of Pittsburgh, at the time when the region was visited by the French and English, was Shannopin's Town (which see). The Iroquois, chiefly Seneca, used the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers as a war trail to the villages in the Illinois region, long before the occupation of these rivers by the Delaware and Shawnee, of historic times (Archives, Sec. Ser., VI. 57). The earliest name, therefore, for the site of Pittsburgh, was probably the Seneca name Diondega. |
