The county's primary city, Greenville, had a post office from 1819 and was incorporated as a town in 1855 and as a city in 1872.[4] A few possible reasons have been put forth for the naming of the town. Some think the town was named afterGreenville, North Carolina, which had been named afterRevolutionary War generalNathanael Greene. Others say that Greenville was named by early settler Thomas White because it was "so green and nice." A third possibility is that Greenville was named after Green P. Rice, the town's first merchant.[4]
In 1824, a vote taken on slavery in Bond County had received 240 votes against and 63 votes for slavery.[5] While Illinois was not a slave state, it was adjacent to slave states,Missouri andKentucky, and did allow the continued use of "indentured servants," a process many slaveowners used to keep their slaves even in a free state.[5]
In Bond County, at one point 14 slaves were registered to eight owners.[5] One slave, Silas Register, took his last name from the act of being registered at the county clerk's office. Register was the last known Bond County slave to survive; he died in 1872 at the age of 76.[5] A few of the slaves are buried in the county with the families they were indentured to.[5] One former slave, Fanny, was free after her owners moved out of the state and worked in the town so that she could buy her husband, Stephen, atauction in Missouri.[5]
During the 1840s, Bond County played host to a few people conducting slaves to freedom on theUnderground Railroad.[5] Teacher T.A. Jones lived inReno and in 2008, a letter in which he told of his Underground Railroad activities was discovered in a staircase inSparta.[5] Slaves were often spirited from Missouri, sometimes throughCarlyle to Bond County.[5] Rev. John Leeper was able to disguise his Underground Railroad activities due to his milling business.[5] Dr.Henry Perrine practiced medicine near Greenville and helped with the secret railroad activities.[5] Rev. George Denny's house was found in the 1930s to conceal a secret chamber that had been used in the Railroad.[5]
Greenville University was founded as Almira College in 1855. In 1941, college president H.J. Long "declared the founding of Almira and Greenville ran parallel, for both were founded onprayer."[4]
WhenAbraham Lincoln andStephen Douglas gave speeches in Greenville in 1858 during a campaign for theUnited States Senate, Douglas said: "Ladies and gentlemen it gives me great and supreme gratification and pleasure to see this vast concourse of people assembled to hear me upon this my first visit to Old Bond."[4] TheIllinois State Register reported of the occasion: "I've seen many gatherings in Old Bond county but I never saw anything equal to this and I never expect to."[4]
On April 18, 1934, during theGreat Depression, a group of 500 protesters marched to the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission to lodge complaints about the delivery of emergency supplies from the state and federal governments.[4]
Ronald Reagan visited Greenvilleon the campaign trail in the 1980s and gave a speech on the courthouse lawn.Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois elected as president in November 2008, also visited Greenville while campaigning for his Senate seat in 2004, in a visit hosted by the Bond County Democrats.[7]
Bond County at the time of its creation in 1817, extending north to Lake Superior.
Bond County between 1821 and 1824
Bond between 1824 and 1843
Bond county was enlarged slightly to its current size in 1843.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 383 square miles (990 km2), of which 380 square miles (980 km2) is land and 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2) (0.6%) is water.[8]
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Greenville have ranged from a low of 21 °F (−6 °C) in January to a high of 91 °F (33 °C) in July, although a record low of −22 °F (−30 °C) was recorded in February 1905 and a record high of 114 °F (46 °C) was recorded in July 1954. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 2.00 inches (51 mm) in February to 4.31 inches (109 mm) in May.[9]
U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790-1960[12] 1900-1990[13] 1990-2000[14] 2010-2013[2]
As of the2020 United States census, there were 16,725 people, 6,359 households, and 4,033 families residing in the county.[15] The population density was 43.7 inhabitants per square mile (16.9/km2). There were 6,858 housing units at an average density of 17.9 per square mile (6.9/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 86.4% white, 6.4% black or African American, 0.3% American Indian, 0.6% Asian, 2.2% from other races, and 4.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.6% of the population. The most commonly reported ancestries wereGerman (28.9%),Irish (13.4%),English (9.3%), andAmerican (9.2%).
Of the 6,359 households, 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.8% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.6% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.9% 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 2.87.
19.1% of the population was under 18 years of age, 9.2% was between 18 and 24, 37.7% was between 15 and 44, and 18.8% was over 65. The median age was 42.5 years. For every 100 females there were 111.0 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $53,568 and the median income for a family was $69,917. Males had a median income of $41,231 versus $26,408 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,274. About 6.6% of families and 13.6% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.
In terms of education, 33.2% of the population had attained a high school or equivalent degree, 13.2% had a bachelor's degree, and 8.5% had a graduate or professional degree.
Bond County, Illinois – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Bond is a strongly Republican county. Only two Democrats have gained an absolute majority of the county's vote since at least 1880 –Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 andLyndon Johnson in 1964.Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to win the county, in 1996, though local SenatorBarack Obama came within 100-plus votes in 2008.
United States presidential election results for Bond County, Illinois[25]
