Monmouth is the county seat of Warren County in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the home of Monmouth College and contains Monmouth Park, Harmon Park, North Park, Warfield Park, West Park, South Park, Garwood Park, Buster White Park and the Citizens Lake & Campground. It is the host of the Prime Beef festival , held annually the week after Labor Day.
The town was originally going to be called Kosciusko (the name was drawn out of a hat), but the founders of the town feared that it would be difficult to spell and pronounce.[citation needed]
Monmouth was once home to one of the most unusually named high school sports organizations, the Zippers. Originally known as The Maroons, the Zipper nickname came about in the late 1930s when the school had a fast basketball team that would "Zip" up and down the court. Earl Bennett, a sports writer nicknamed them "The Zippers" and the name stuck. The school went with the "Zipper" nickname until the 2004-05 school year when Monmouth consolidated with Roseville and the new Monmouth-Roseville High School adopted the nickname "The Titans".[citation needed]
Monmouth was the home for Western Stoneware, known for its "Maple Leaf" imprint and for producing "Sleepy Eye" collectible ceramics, which are recognizable by the blue-on-white bas-relief Indian profile. Western Stoneware closed in June 2006. Three former employees of Western Stoneware will operate the facility under the name WS, Inc and have leased the building and logo from the city of Monmouth.
Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth. Mass murderer Richard Speck lived in Monmouth briefly as a child, and again in the Spring of 1966. Ronald Reagan lived in Monmouth for a while as a child when his dad worked as a shoe salesman at the Colwell Department Store. World-famous magician Nicola the Great, serpentine dancer Loie Fuller and billiards champion Ralph Greenleaf lived in Monmouth.[citation needed]
Monmouth College, a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was founded in Monmouth in 1853. It is the second-largest employer in the city. Pi Beta Phi, the first national secret college society of women to be modeled after the Greek-letter fraternities of men, was founded on its campus in 1867. Just three years later in 1870, Kappa Kappa Gamma, international fraternity for women, was founded on its campus.
Monmouth is also known regionally as the Maple City Monmouth is located at [show location on an interactive map] 40°54′42″N, 90°38′40″W (40.911531, -90.644579).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.1 square miles (10.5 km²), of which, 4.0 square miles (10.4 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.49%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 9,841 people, 3,688 households, and 2,323 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,442.3 people per square mile (942.8/km²). There were 3,986 housing units at an average density of 989.2/sq mi (381.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 92.72% White, 2.80% African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 1.91% from other races, and 1.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.35% of the population.
IN Monmouth,people ride donkey's for fun and live in tipi's. There were 3,688 households out of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.99.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 17.1% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 88.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $33,641, and the median income for a family was $41,004. Males had a median income of $30,006 versus $20,144 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,839. About 8.0% of families and 11.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.5% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.
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