Marion, Illinois
Encyclopedia
The city of Marion is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Williamson County, Illinois
Williamson County, Illinois
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*92.7% White*3.8% Black*0.4% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.7% Two or more races*0.4% Other races*2.0% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

. The 2010 census counted 17,193 residents, making Marion the 25th most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, in Illinois, and the second most populous city in Southern Illinois
Little Egypt (region)
-Early history:The earliest inhabitants of Illinois were thought to have arrived about 12,000 B.C. They were hunter-gatherers, but developed a primitive system of agriculture. After 1000 AD, their agricultural surpluses enabled them to develop complex, hierarchical societies...

, outside of the Metro-East
Metro-East
Metro East is a region in Illinois that comprises the eastern suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It encompasses five Southern Illinois counties in the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. The region's most populated city is Belleville at 45,000 residents...

, behind Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...

. It's part of a dispersed urban area that developed out of the early 20th Century coal fields.

Today Marion serves as the largest retail trade center in Southern Illinois with its central location along Interstate 57 and Illinois Route 13 (colloquially known as Southern Illinois' "Main Street"). It's home to the Illinois Star Centre
Illinois Star Centre
Illinois Star Centre, formerly Illinois Centre Mall, is an enclosed shopping mall in Marion, Illinois. Opened in 1991, it features more than 60 stores, including Dillard's, Sears and Target as anchor stores.-History:...

 mall and the Southern Illinois Miners
Southern Illinois Miners
The Southern Illinois Miners are a professional baseball team based in Marion, Illinois, in the United States. The Miners are a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...

 baseball team, and is in the process of being selected for Illinois' first STAR Bonds District for the proposed Boulder Creek at The Hill development.

The city is part of the Marion-Herrin Micropolitan Area and is a part of the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area with 123,272 residents, the sixth most populous Combined statistical area
Combined Statistical Area
The United States Office of Management and Budget defines micropolitan and metropolitan statistical areas. Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas consist of one or more counties...

 in Illinois. The city is also part of the unofficial Metro Lakeland
Metro Lakeland
Metro Lakeland is a name that was coined for an area of southern Illinois that is centered around the intersections of Interstate 57, Interstate 24, and Illinois Route 13 — a four-lane east-west highway connecting the communities of Murphysboro, Carbondale, Carterville, Herrin, Marion, and Harrisburg...

 area.

History

Following the creation of Williamson County
Williamson County, Illinois
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*92.7% White*3.8% Black*0.4% Native American*0.8% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*1.7% Two or more races*0.4% Other races*2.0% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

 out of the south half of Franklin County
Franklin County, Illinois
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 39,561, which is an increase of 1.4% from 39,018 in 2000. Its county seat is Benton.-History:...

 by the Illinois General Assembly, three commissioners appointed by the lawmakers met at Bainbridge, Illinois, on August 19, 1839, for the purpose of locating a new county seat as close to the center of the county as possible. The next day, August 20, they laid out a town of 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) with a public square about one-quarter of a mile east of the county's center, but a point on top of a slight hill of 448 feet (136.6 m) above sea level. The site sat in a small open grassland known as Poor Prairie. For a name, they chose Marion to honor American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 hero General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion
Francis Marion
Francis Marion was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven...

.

William and Bethany Benson had entered the quarter-quarter section of land that contained the future site of Marion just the previous year on September 8, 1838. He had lived in the county at least since 1817, and was the first settler to enter land in Poor Prairie. At the time the commissioners platted Marion, he had a small crop of corn and wheat growing over what became the public square.

The Williamson County Court organized in Marion on October 7, 1839, at the Benson log cabin. Overflow crowds had to use pumpkins for stools. The government established a post office at Marion on January 30, 1840, and the legislature incorporated the community as a city on February 24, 1841.

1982 Tornado

On May 29, 1982, one of the larger tornadoes in Illinois history, an F-4
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...

 (max. wind speeds 207–260 mph), hit the city of Marion, Illinois and Williamson County. Ten people died and 200 people were injured after this tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

 ripped across a 17 miles (27.4 km) stretch. The Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

 Village apartment complex was destroyed, and the Marion Ford-Mercury dealership sustained heavy damage. This tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

 caused between $85 million and $100 million in damages. A memorial to the ten people who perished that day was later erected on the Tower Square.

Government

Marion city government is led by longtime municipal leader, Mayor Robert L. "Bob" Butler
Robert L. Butler
Robert L. Butler, , is the current Mayor of Marion, Illinois, and was disbarred from practicing law by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1983 Butler is now serving in his 12th term. Butler has been Mayor of Marion since 1963. He is the son of Homer and Eva Butler...

 who was first elected in April 1963, and is believed to be the longest-serving Illinois mayor still active. The city operates on a city commission
City commission government
City commission government is a form of municipal government which once was common in the United States, but many cities which were formerly governed by commission have since switched to the council-manager form of government...

 system of government with the mayor and four city commissioners, each elected for four-year terms. City elections on April 5, 2011, returned Butler for a 13th term with nearly 58 percent of the vote. Also returning were commissioners Anthony Rinella (Public Works) and Jay Rix (Public Safety). They were joined by Doug Patton and former city commissioner John Goss. Leaving the council are Lannie Gribble (Accounts, Finance & Streets), who did not run for re-election, and Bob Owens (Public Property), who ran instead for mayor winning 31 percent of the vote in a three-person race.

The new council took their oath of office and organized at a special meeting, April 28, 2011, with Butler taking the mayor's customary Public Affairs portfolio, Rinella moving over to Accounts & Finances, plus the Water Department, Rix keeping Public Health & Safety (Police & Fire Departments), Goss getting Streets and Cemetery, and Patton, Public Works and Code Enforcement.

The council calendar calls for meetings on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. However, the council generally extends those meetings, and with the exception of major holidays, usually ends up meeting every Monday evening at City Hall.

Following a city referendum some years ago, the city is also a Home Rule
Home Rule in the United States
In the United States, the legislative authority granted to local governments varies by state. In some states, known as Home Rule States, an amendment to the state constitution grants cities, municipalities, and/or counties the ability to pass laws to govern themselves as they see fit...

 community which gives the council greater flexibility to act than a typical city commission form of government.

The Marion Park District is independent of city government. It operates the parks system under a separately elected five-member board. The library board though is appointed by the mayor and city council.

Arts and culture

Downtown Marion is home to the Little Egypt Arts Gallery operated by the Little Egypt Arts Association as well as the Williamson County Historical Society museum and the Marion Carnegie Library. The major arts and culture institution though is the Marion Cultural and Civic Center.

Marion Cultural and Civic Center

In 2004, the Marion Civic Center was awarded the Frank Lloyd Wright Award - Special Recognition from the American Institute of Architects, Illinois Chapter, at the organization's annual ceremony.The 35000 square feet (3,251.6 m²) facility, designed by White and Borgognoni Architects, was completed in June 2004. After a 1997 fire destroyed the city's former civic center, the new facility was crafted using parts of the old Orpheum Theater building.

The grand opening of the Orpheum Theatre was on January 2, 1922. Built in the southwest corner of the downtown square, she was the flagship of a chain of vaudeville and moving picture theaters constructed to tap into the wealth generated by agriculture and mining in Southern Illinois. The Orpheum Theatre sat over 900, and was ornately decorated in a mix of Renaissance and Neoclassical styles, complete with gold leaf, elaborate plasterwork, and a multicolored terra-cotta facade.

The Orpheum was quite successful until the advent of television. Decreasing profits forced the Orpheum to exclusively be a motion picture theater in the mid-1950s and to close in 1971. The City of Marion purchased the building in 1973 with the intent of constructing a parking lot. The Mayor and the City Council reconsidered their plan when they found that their citizenry was in favor of restoring the old theater for use by the community as a cultural and entertainment center.

During the early morning hours, of March 10, 1997, a blaze quickly raced through the Civic Center, and totally gutted the theater, leaving it a smoldering shell after the blaze was put out. The facade of the Orpheum was salvaged, but the remainder of the theater was razed, and in 2000, it was decided that a new Cultural and Civic Center would be built on the site of the old Orpheum and a couple of other demolished neighboring structures.

Commerce and industry

The recent Great Recession impacted Marion in lower sales tax revenues for the city as well as the loss of a Circuit City distribution center, and a proposed second distribution center for another major big box retailer that had never formally been named.

Retail sales also suffered as the recession dragged out. Collected sales tax grew 2.9 percent in 2008 compared with the year before, but growth slowed in 2009 with only a 0.7 percent increase. By 2010 the forward momentum ceased and sales tax collections actually dropped 1/10th of a percent. So far in 2011, January collections (representing December sales) grew by 3/10ths of a percent and February improved by 2.4 percent.

New building permits show evidence for an economic recovery. So far in 2011 builders have started four new homes, three triplex apartments, a $500,000 expansion at Timberline Fisheries, $600,000 for the new Speakeasy Liquors, a $560,000 new office and mechanical building for Clearwave Communications and the $4.7 million Holiday Inn Express. In addition, a new 4-story, 65-unit Comfort Inn broke ground in September.

Marion's location, at the crossroads of Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13 is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentucky Route 56. This is a distance of .- Route description :Illinois...

 and Interstate 57
Interstate 57
Interstate 57 is an Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central rail line for much of its route. It goes from Miner, Missouri, at Interstate 55 to Chicago, Illinois, at Interstate 94. I-57 essentially serves as a shortcut route for travelers headed between...

 make it a prime candidate for future growth. One of the largest Wal-Mart Supercenter Stores in the country opened on September 20, 2006. It measures 206000 sq ft (19,138 m²) in area, with 36 separate departments and over 500 employees. An equally large Menards store opened on The Hill in November 2006, adding to further development of Marion's newest commercial district. Other restaurants, such as McAlister's Deli, Thai-D Classic, Sao Asian Bistro and 17th Street Bar And Grill are also located here, as well as banks, hotels and stores.

Developed industrial parks include the REDCO Industrial Park adjacent to the airport and home to three AISIN plants: AISIN Mfg. Illinois, AISIN Light Metals and AISIN Electronics; and the Robert L. Butler Industrial park, home of the 1300000 square feet (120,774 m²) Circuit City Warehouse now looking for a new tenant, as well as Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Data Center, Frito Lay Distribution Center and Illinois Tool Works. Both parks also have additional acreage available. Other industrial areas available for development are the Airport Industrial Park between the Williamson County Regional Airport
Williamson County Regional Airport
Williamson County Regional Airport is a public airport located four miles west of the central business district of Marion, a city in Williamson County, Illinois, USA. The airport covers and has two runways. It is mostly used for general aviation, although it has scheduled service to Lambert-St...

 and Illinois Route 148
Illinois Route 148
Illinois Route 148 is a north–south state road in southern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 37 at Pulleys Mill north to the western terminus of Illinois Route 142 and Illinois 37 south of downtown Mount Vernon...

 immediately northwest of the city, and the undeveloped county-owned Williamson County Industrial Park six miles (10 km) east of the city one mile north of Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13 is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentucky Route 56. This is a distance of .- Route description :Illinois...

.

Federal installations in the city include the Marion VA Medical Center on Main Street, the Richard G. Wilson U.S. Army Reserve Center on Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13 is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentucky Route 56. This is a distance of .- Route description :Illinois...

, and the United States Penitentiary, Marion
United States Penitentiary, Marion
The United States Penitentiary is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility located in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. The facility is located south of Marion, from St. Louis, and from Chicago. It was built in 1963 to replace the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, which...

 located southwest of the city. The Reserve Center is set to move to larger regional facility at Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...

. When that happens the Marion Police Department is slated to move out of the basement at City Hall to the more centrally-located building.

The newest major attraction is Rent One Park, which opened in May 2007, home to the Frontier League
Frontier League
The Frontier League, based in Sauget, Illinois, is a professional, independent baseball organization located in the Midwestern United States, Western Pennsylvania, and Southern Ontario. It operates mostly in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either...

's Southern Illinois Miners
Southern Illinois Miners
The Southern Illinois Miners are a professional baseball team based in Marion, Illinois, in the United States. The Miners are a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...

.

Marion is also the home of the 1st and only all female roller derby league in Southern Illinois, the Southern Illinois Roller Girls
Southern Illinois Roller Girls
The Southern Illinois Roller Girls is the only women's roller derby team in Southern Illinois and competes at The Pavilion in Marion.Their mission is to provide and sustain an environment in which courage, mental acumen, and respect is developed and fostered in tandem with vitality, athletic...

.

Popular local restaurants in Marion include Walt's, Bennie's, 17th Street Bar and Grill (The only 3-time World Champion in BBQ), La Fiesta and Tequilas, Honeybakers, among many others. Easy access to I-57 has made Marion a market of choice for several popular chain restaurants like Applebee's
Applebee's
Applebee’s International, Inc., is an American company which develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurant chain. As of September 2011, there were 2,010 restaurants operating system-wide in the United States, one U.S. territory and 14 other countries...

, Red Lobster
Red Lobster
Red Lobster is a U.S. chain of seafood restaurants. It also operates in Canada, the UAE and Japan . It is aimed at the mid-level "casual dining" segment of the market...

 and Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. is an American chain of combined restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969 and its first store was located in Lebanon, Tennessee, where the company is now headquartered...

.

Major employers

As of March 30, 2009, the largest employers located inside the city limits were as follows:
  • Aisin Mfg., three non-union auto parts plants first established in 2002 employing 820 employees.
  • Pepsi / Midamerica, soft drinks in operation since 1935 employing 600 non-union workers.
  • Heartland Regional Medical Center, formerly Marion Memorial Hospital first established in 1953, employing 600 non-union employees.
  • VA Medical Center, established in 1942, employing 600 workers.
  • Blue Cross/Blue Shield claims processing center established in 1983 employing 350 non-union employees.


Other major nearby employers include:
  • John A. Logan College in Carterville, established in 1967, employing 850 workers represented by the IEA, Teamsters and AFT.
  • Herrin Hospital in Herrin
    Herrin, Illinois
    Herrin is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,501 at the 2010 census. It is home to Country Musicstar David Lee Murphy, the hometown of baseball's Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman, and the hometown of San Diego State University men's basketball coach Steve...

    , established in 1913, employs 450 non-union employees.
  • U.S. Dept. of Justice / Bureau of Prisons employs 342 union workers at United States Penitentiary, Marion
    United States Penitentiary, Marion
    The United States Penitentiary is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility located in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. The facility is located south of Marion, from St. Louis, and from Chicago. It was built in 1963 to replace the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, which...

     southwest of the city.
  • Southern Illinois Power Coop just south of Marion employing 120 at its Lake of Egypt
    Lake of Egypt
    Lake of Egypt is a reservoir in the Little Egypt region of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located six miles south of Marion, Illinois and covers 2,300 acres with of shoreline. The lake has an average depth of with a maximum depth of...

     power plant. Established in 1963.

Tourism and recreation

Tourism promotion and marketing in Marion is conducted at the county level with a county bed tax of five percent. Forty percent of that amount goes to the Williamson County Tourism Bureau and the remaining 60 percent to the Williamson County Events Commission for debt service on the bonds used to build the Williamson County Pavilion, a multi-use meeting and convention center immediately north of the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion. That building also houses the tourism bureau.

Over the last decade Marion lodging operators generated on average 97.4 percent of the lodging revenue for the county. Tourists spent $9.1 million in Marion for overnight stays in 2000. That figure has grown steadily to $15.4 million in short-term rentals in 2009. (Long-term rentals of more than 30 days are not taxed, nor included in these figures). Currently, there are 14 hotels and motels inside the city limits as of July 2010. Since 2000, one hotel has closed - the original Holiday Inn closed in January 2004 having last operated as the Executive Inn - and two new hotels opened, Fairfield Inn in August 2004, and Country Inn & Suites in December 2008. Those two and five other hotels together generate nearly 80 percent of the business in the city. The five are Comfort Suites, Drury Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express (originally Budgetel Inn), and Quality Inn (formerly Comfort Inn).

Overall there are 1050 rooms inside the city limits. In addition, there are two additional motels and three small specialty lodging facilities outside the city limits but within the Marion zip code.

In the fall of 2010, a new bed and breakfast Jasones opened in the historic Queen Anne-style Aikman mansion at the corner of Main and Russell Streets. Prior to the current recession, a new Holiday Inn Express had been planned and semi-announced for The Hill, according to the site map on the developer's website. Site work began early in 2011 and the developer took out a building permit with the city on April 11, 2011.. A second new hotel, this one a new 65-unit Comfort Inn, broke ground in September 2011. Both new hotels are located off of the new Morgan Avenue interchange at I-57.

Besides the announced Millennium Development, other tourism projects in the works include a new visitors center currently in the planning stages that would be located next to the Marion Chamber of Commerce near the Main Street (Exit 53) interchange just off of Interstate 57.

Marion's first motel was the World War II era Motel Marion on the western edge of the city limits on what was then Illinois Route 13, now Old Route 13 or West Main Street. Later it was joined by the Courts Motel on South Court Street (since torn down for an auto parts store), and the Uptown Motel just off the public square (also torn down and now a parking lot and part of the new Marion Civic and Cultural Center). For a while after World War II, Marion's major hotel was the Hotel State in the former five-story Marion State & Savings Bank building on the west side of the square. That building still stands and is being renovated for offices and residences. An earlier three story hotel, the Williams Hotel on North Market Street is also undergoing restoration as of the summer of 2010.

Marion's modern history as a tourism center began with the development of Interstate 57 in the 1960s and the creation of three hotels and one motel in short order. They were the Egyptian Sands Motor Lodge (later a Travelodge and finally the Heritage Motel before finally closing) located next to the city's first strip shopping center Westmore Plaza (now the Marion Centre), the Ramada Inn (now the Days Inn), and the Holiday Inn (later a Travelodge and the Executive Inn before finally closing). The fourth facility, the 20-unit Gray Plaza Motel, remains open and still operating under the same name.

The Regal 8 (now the Motel 6), Best Inns (now America's Best Inn) and Super 8 were the next three motels to locate in the city in the late 1970s and early 1980s. All were along Route 13 on the west side of Exit 54. Next came Shoney's Inn (now the Econo Lodge) on the east side. Around the same time as the announcement of the Illinois Centre Mall and the city's first use of tax increment financing districts, Drury Inn built a large modern facility on the north side of Route 13. A few years and another TIF district later, developers built the Hampton Inn immediately west of the Drury. A local developer, Henry Mitchell built the first of three hotels on the west side of Exit 53, around the same time as the mall development, starting with a Comfort Inn (now the Quality Inn), then a Budgetel (now the Holiday Inn Express) and finally a Comfort Suites.

Camping facilities in the city include the Motel Marion and the new Marion Campground & RV Park, both located off of Exit 53 on the east side of the interstate.

Major attractions that fill Marion hotels include Southern Illinois Miners' games at Rent One Park, events at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, The Southern Illinois Roller Girls bouts at the Williamson Co Pavilion, the two dozen wineries within a 45 miles (72.4 km) radius of the city including those on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and the Southern Illinois Wine Trail, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is a 43,890 acre National Wildlife Refuge primarily in southwestern Williamson County, but with small extensions into adjacent eastern Jackson and northeastern Union counties of southern Illinois, in the United States. Its land and water contain a wide...

 adjacent to the city, Lake of Egypt
Lake of Egypt
Lake of Egypt is a reservoir in the Little Egypt region of the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located six miles south of Marion, Illinois and covers 2,300 acres with of shoreline. The lake has an average depth of with a maximum depth of...

 immediately to the south and the Shawnee National Forest
Shawnee National Forest
The Shawnee National Forest, located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, consists of approximately 280,000 acres of federally managed lands. In descending order of land area it is located in parts of Pope, Jackson, Union, Hardin, Alexander, Saline, Gallatin, Johnson, and Massac...

 and various state parks that stretch along the Shawnee Hills from river to river.

Geography

Marion is located at 37°43′49"N 88°55′49"W (37.730363, -88.930237).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 13.5 square miles (35 km²), of which, 12.8 square miles (33.2 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km²) of it (5.18%) is water.

Demographics


The 2010 census, there were 17,193 people living within the city limits. Of the 16,853 persons who identified with one race, 15,093 (87.8%) were white, 1,278 (7.4%) were black or African-American, 69 American Indian, 262 Asian, 4 Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders, and 147 who claimed some other race. The Hispanic population was 445 (2.6 percent). There were 8,273 total housing units; 7,438 (89.9%) were occupied and 835 (10.1%) vacant.

The recent recession has slowed the city's rapid growth. A special census four years earlier in 2006 counted 17,011 residents.

At the 2000 census, there were 16,035 people, 6,902 households and 4,341 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,250.2 per square mile (482.6/km²). There were 7,555 housing units at an average density of 589.0 per square mile (227.4/km²).

There were 6,902 households of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.1% were non-families. 33.1% 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 2.25, and the average family size was 2.86.

Age distribution was 22.8% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 87.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.

The median household income
Median household income
The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...

 was $30,364, and the median family income was $39,275. Males had a median income of $31,520 versus $22,609 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $19,073. About 11.2% of families and 14.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.9% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

  • Conrad Keene Allen
    Conrad Allen
    Conrad Keene Allen is an American Exploration Geologist. He served two terms on the National Petroleum Council in Washington D.C.; first appointed in 2000 by Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson and reappointed in 2003 by Secretary Spencer Abraham.Allen established the Conrad & Deanna Allen...

    , Exploration Geologist
  • Cory Bailey
    Cory Bailey
    Phillip Cory Bailey is a former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball between and . He batted and threw right-handed....

    , Major League Baseball player in the minors, majors, and in China.
  • Robert L. Butler
    Robert L. Butler
    Robert L. Butler, , is the current Mayor of Marion, Illinois, and was disbarred from practicing law by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1983 Butler is now serving in his 12th term. Butler has been Mayor of Marion since 1963. He is the son of Homer and Eva Butler...

    , mayor of Marion, Illinois since 1963.
  • Ray Fosse
    Ray Fosse
    Raymond Earl Fosse is a former professional baseball player who was a catcher in the Major Leagues. He was drafted in the first round of the 1965 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians. Fosse also holds the distinction of being the Indians' first ever draft pick, as 1965 was the first year of the...

    , Major League Baseball player.
  • Dolph Stanley
    Dolph Stanley
    Dolph Stanley was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the ”Silver Fox”, Stanley is best known for holding the "unbreakable" record of guiding five different Illinois High School Association schools into the state tournament...

    , legendary high school and college basketball coach.

Sports

Team Sport League Championships Venue
Southern Illinois Miners
Southern Illinois Miners
The Southern Illinois Miners are a professional baseball team based in Marion, Illinois, in the United States. The Miners are a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...

Baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

Frontier League
Frontier League
The Frontier League, based in Sauget, Illinois, is a professional, independent baseball organization located in the Midwestern United States, Western Pennsylvania, and Southern Ontario. It operates mostly in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either...

; West Division
Rent One Park

Team Sport League Venue
Southern Illinois Roller Girls
Southern Illinois Roller Girls
The Southern Illinois Roller Girls is the only women's roller derby team in Southern Illinois and competes at The Pavilion in Marion.Their mission is to provide and sustain an environment in which courage, mental acumen, and respect is developed and fostered in tandem with vitality, athletic...

All Female Flat Track Roller Derby WFTDA Apprentice League Marion Pavilion


Highways

Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13 is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentucky Route 56. This is a distance of .- Route description :Illinois...

, originally along Main Street, and Illinois Route 37
Illinois Route 37
Illinois Route 37, or Illinois 37, is a north–south route in southern Illinois. It is in length. Originally connecting Effingham to Cairo, it was a heavily-traveled highway before Interstate 57 was opened. That Interstate, which lies very close to most of Illinois 37 , supplanted it as a...

 (Court Street) both opened up in the first round of the hard roads highway system in the 1920s. The state altered 13 with a new four-lane route along DeYoung Street in the late 1950s. Interstate 57
Interstate 57
Interstate 57 is an Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central rail line for much of its route. It goes from Miner, Missouri, at Interstate 55 to Chicago, Illinois, at Interstate 94. I-57 essentially serves as a shortcut route for travelers headed between...

 first opened in 1961 and runs through the western portion of the city. It connects with Interstate 24
Interstate 24
Interstate 24 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from Interstate 57 to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at Interstate 75....

 a few miles south of town.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has started widening Route 13 to six lanes from I-57 west to Carterville
Carterville, Illinois
Carterville is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, in the United States, and is geographically situated between Carbondale, Illinois and Marion, Illinois. The city is located next to Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge's of land and water contain a wide diversity of flora and...

. Bids are set to go out this fall to start work on 6-lanes from the interstate east to Route 37. Also, plans are being made to re-place the existing interstate overpass over 13, and completely re-do Exit 54 changing it from a cloverleaf to a single-point interchange.

In addition to the two existing interchanges, a new southbound off-ramp at Morgan Avenue on the north side of the city will be expanded later in 2011 with a new northbound on-ramp from Morgan onto the interstate. When the rest of Exit 54 is reconstructed, two flyover lanes will connect northbound interstate traffic to Morgan as well as southbound traffic from Morgan to the interstate.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is making plans to widen Interstate 57 from four to six lanes from Interstate 24 south of Marion north to the interchanges with Interstate 64
Interstate 64
Interstate 64 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. 40, and U.S. 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange with I-264 and I-664 at Bowers Hill in Chesapeake, Virginia. As I-64 is concurrent with...

 at Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Illinois
Mount Vernon is a city located near the center of Jefferson County, Illinois, in the United States. In the 2010 census, the city's reported population was 15,277 people....

. The first work on the project is scheduled at the north end along the stretch that hosts traffic from both interstates.

The Average Daily Traffic Count as of February 2011 for Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13
Illinois Route 13 is a major east–west state route in southern Illinois. Illinois 13 has its western terminus at Centreville at Illinois Route 157 and its eastern terminus at the Kentucky state line and the Ohio River, at Kentucky Route 56. This is a distance of .- Route description :Illinois...

 is 15,300 on the east edge of town. It picks up to 22,500 on the east side of the intersection with Illinois Route 37
Illinois Route 37
Illinois Route 37, or Illinois 37, is a north–south route in southern Illinois. It is in length. Originally connecting Effingham to Cairo, it was a heavily-traveled highway before Interstate 57 was opened. That Interstate, which lies very close to most of Illinois 37 , supplanted it as a...

; 25,000 by the intersection with North Carbon Street; 31,100 by the east side of the interstate. Once west of the interstate the count drops to 30,700, then 28,800 in front of Heartland Medical Center and down to 26,400 in front of the Williamson County Regional Airport. Interstate 57
Interstate 57
Interstate 57 is an Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central rail line for much of its route. It goes from Miner, Missouri, at Interstate 55 to Chicago, Illinois, at Interstate 94. I-57 essentially serves as a shortcut route for travelers headed between...

 sees an average of 33,700 vehicles making up the traffic county north of Exit 54 at Marion and 26,900 vehicles a day south of Exit 53.

Other major street projects underway at the present time is the extension of Champions Drive south to Halfway Road which will connect Kokopelli Golf Course with Rent One Park and the city's major hotel district; as well as engineering work for widening Morgan Drive, Carbon and Russell Streets to handle traffic expected to be generated in a few years by the Millennium Development.

Air service

Williamson County Regional Airport
Williamson County Regional Airport
Williamson County Regional Airport is a public airport located four miles west of the central business district of Marion, a city in Williamson County, Illinois, USA. The airport covers and has two runways. It is mostly used for general aviation, although it has scheduled service to Lambert-St...

 serves the city and is located at the extreme western edge of the city. Cape Air
Cape Air
Hyannis Air Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, Florida, the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic States, Midwest, and Micronesia...

 provides daily passenger flights to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is a Class B international airport serving Greater St. Louis. It is located approximately northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporated St. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state with 250 daily...

.

Rail service

Both the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern railroads have lines running through the city. Local service from those lines are provided by the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad
Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad
The Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad is a Class III common carrier shortline railroad that operates between the cities of Marion and Herrin in the Southern Illinois region. It is most historically recognized by the FRA for being the last U.S...

 headquartered in Marion. Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 passenger rail service is available at Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, in the state of Illinois, within the Southern Illinois region. It is located at the junction of Illinois Route 13 and U.S. Route 51, southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, on the northern edge of the Shawnee National Forest...

, 16 miles (25.7 km) west of Marion.

Further reading

  • Hubbs, Barbara Burr. 1939, reprint 1979. Pioneer Folks and Places. Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society.
  • Erwin, Milo. 1876, Rep. 1976. History of Williamson County, Illinois. Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society.
  • Erwin, Milo, and Jon Musgrave. 2006. The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com. 240 pages.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK