It is 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. It was dubbed the "Hub of the Universe"[4] by former mayor Robert L. Butler. Today, the motto under current Mayor, Mike Absher, is the "Oasis of Opportunity."
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 in Illinois.
History
Marion in 1938
Following the creation of Williamson County out of the south half of Franklin County 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 (81,000m2) 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 (137m) 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 hero Gen. Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion.
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.[5]
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 federal government established a post office at Marion on January 30, 1840, and the legislature incorporated the community as a city on February 24, 1841.[6]
On May 29, 1982, one of the larger tornadoes in Illinois history, rated F4, hit the city of Marion and Williamson County. Ten people died and 181 people were injured after this tornado ripped across a 17-mile (27km) stretch. The Shawnee Village apartment complex was destroyed, and the Marion Ford-Mercury dealership sustained heavy damage. This tornado caused between $85 million and $100 million in damages. A memorial to the ten people who perished that day was later erected on the south side of Tower Square Plaza.[7]
Geography
Marion is in central Williamson County, with a narrow strip of city limits extending south beyond Creal Springs to the valley of Sugar Creek in Johnson County.[8] Marion is 44 miles (71km) south of Mount Vernon, Illinois, and 57 miles (92km) north of Paducah, Kentucky. Carbondale is 17 miles (27km) to the west, and Harrisburg is 22 miles (35km) to the east.
According to the 2010 census, Marion has a total area of 16.217 square miles (42.00km2), of which 15.99 square miles (41.41km2) (or 98.6%) is land and 0.227 square miles (0.59km2) (or 1.4%) is water.[9]
Demographics
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Newer information is available from the 2010 and 2020 census reports. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2021)
As of the census[10] of July 1, 2022, there were 16,729 people, and 8,028 households residing in the city. The population density was 1,171.1 per square mile in 2020. There were 7,555 housing units at an average density of 589.0 per square mile (227.4/km2). Ower-occupied housing rate is 62.0%. Median value of owner-occupied housing is $143,600, and median gross rent is $823 per month.
There were 8,028 households, out of which 21.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 23.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05.
The median household income in the Marion city, IL is $54,052 and the median house value is $143,600. The per capita income for the city was $36,935. About 15.0% of the population were living below the poverty line. The region has a civilian labor force of 7,866 with a participation rate of 57.8%. Of individuals 25 to 64 in the Marion city, IL, 30.1% have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
As of 2023Q4, total employment for the Marion city, IL was 18,253 (based on a four-quarter moving average). Over the year ending 2023Q4, employment increased 2.1% in the region.
As of 2022, Marion has a Veteran population of 1,544 persons.
The Cost of Living Index estimates the relative price levels for consumer goods and services. When applied to wages and salaries, the result is a measure of relative purchasing power. The cost of living is 8.0% lower in Marion city, IL than the U.S. average.
The largest sector in the Marion city, IL is Health Care and Social Assistance, employing 4,015 workers. The next-largest sectors in the region are Accommodation and Food Services (2,364 workers) and Retail Trade (2,134). High location quotients (LQs) indicate sectors in which a region has high concentrations of employment compared to the national average. The sectors with the largest LQs in the region are Finance and Insurance (LQ = 2.33), Health Care and Social Assistance (1.50), and Accommodation and Food Services (1.49).
Sectors in the Marion city, IL with the highest average wages per worker are Utilities ($125,515), Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction ($73,866), and Health Care and Social Assistance ($65,918). Regional sectors with the best job growth (or most moderate job losses) over the last 5 years are Health Care and Social Assistance (+491 jobs), Accommodation and Food Services (+307), and Finance and Insurance (+194). The fastest growing sector in the region is expected to be Transportation and Warehousing with a +0.5% year-over-year rate of growth. The strongest forecast by number of jobs over this period is expected for Health Care and Social Assistance (+16 jobs), Transportation and Warehousing (+3), and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (0).
The largest major occupation group in the Marion city, IL is Office and Administrative Support Occupations, employing 2,191 workers. The next-largest occupation groups in the region are Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (1,932 workers) and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations (1,822). High location quotients (LQs) indicate occupation groups in which a region has high concentrations of employment compared to the national average. The major groups with the largest LQs in the region are Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations (LQ = 1.70), Healthcare Support Occupations (1.40), and Protective Service Occupations (1.37).
Occupation groups in the Marion city, IL with the highest average wages per worker are Management Occupations ($104,900), Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations ($101,500), and Legal Occupations ($92,100). The unemployment rate in the region varied among the major groups from 1.2% among Legal Occupations to 6.9% among Transportation and Material Moving Occupations. Over the next 1 year, the fastest growing occupation group in the Marion city, IL is expected to be Healthcare Support Occupations with a +0.9% year-over-year rate of growth. The strongest forecast by number of jobs over this period is expected for Healthcare Support Occupations (+11 jobs) and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations (+5). Over the same period, the highest separation demand (occupation demand due to retirements and workers moving from one occupation to another) is expected in Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (361 jobs) and Office and Administrative Support Occupations (244).
Major employers
As of March 30, 2009, the largest employers located inside the city limits were as follows:[11]
Aisin Mfg., three auto parts plants first established in 2002 employing 1820 employees.
Pepsi / MidAmerica, soft drinks in operation since 1935 employing 600 workers.
Heartland Regional Medical Center, formerly Marion Memorial Hospital first established in 1953, employing 600 employees.
VA Medical Center, established in 1942, employs 1500 workers.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield claims processing center established in 1983 employing 350 employees.
Other major nearby employers include:
John A. Logan College in Carterville, established in 1967, employing 850 workers.
Herrin Hospital in Herrin, established in 1913, employs 450 employees.
Southern Illinois Power Coop just south of Marion employing 120 at its Lake of Egypt power plant. Established in 1963.
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 35,000-square-foot (3,300m2) 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.[12]
Marion, 1910
Sister city
Marion became a sister city to Kanie, Japan, on March 26, 2010.[13]
Tourism
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.
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.[14]
Marion's city government is led by Mayor Mike Absher who assumed office on April 22, 2019, after defeating Incumbent Anthony Rinella who was appointed after longtime mayor Robert L. Butler resigned. The city operates on a city commission system of government with the mayor and four city commissioners, each elected for four-year terms.
The council calendar calls for meetings on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month at City Hall.[15]
The city is also a home rule community, a status that gives the council greater flexibility to act than a typical city commission form of government.[16]
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.
Rides Mass Transit District operates fixed-route and demand-response transit services in Marion and Southern Illinois. The Bill Jung Transfer Center serves as the primary location for bus services and serves South Central Transit. Greyhound Lines buses are no longer based out of Marion, Illinois. The nearest terminal is Carbondale.[18]
Williamson County is a county in Southern Illinois. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 67,153. The largest city and county seat is Marion.
Johnson County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 13,308. Its county seat is Vienna. It is located in the southern portion of Illinois known locally as "Little Egypt".
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois with a population of 52,974 at the 2020 census. Its county seat is Murphysboro, and its most populous city is Carbondale, home to the main campus of Southern Illinois University. The county was incorporated on January 10, 1816, and named for Andrew Jackson. The community of Brownsville served as the fledgling county's first seat.
Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most populous city in Southern Illinois outside the Metro East region of Greater St. Louis.
Old Shawneetown is a village in Gallatin County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 113, down from 193 at the 2010 census. Located along the Ohio River, Shawneetown served as an important United States government administrative center for the Northwest Territory. The village was devastated by the Ohio River flood of 1937. The village's population was moved several miles inland to New Shawneetown.
Carterville is a city in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 5,848. The city is part of the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin combined statistical area and has grown considerably as a residential community of Carbondale and Marion.
Herrin is a city in Williamson County, Illinois. The population was 12,352 at the 2020 census. 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 in Illinois.
Spillertown is a village in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 203 at the 2010 census and as of 2018, the population has grown to an estimated 272.
Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Mississippi below its connection with the Missouri River to the west and the Ohio River to the east and south, with the Wabash as a tributary. Some areas of Southern Illinois are known historically as Little Egypt.
Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois , also known as Williamson County Regional Airport, is five miles west of Marion, in Williamson County, Illinois, United States. The airport is owned by the Williamson County Airport Authority. It sees one airline, subsidized by the federal government's Essential Air Service program at an annual cost of $2,562,819 or $141 per passenger. On November 11, 2016 during the grand opening ceremony for the new terminal, the airport was renamed to "Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois" to honor veterans and better reflect the regional nature of the airport.
Illinois is in the midwestern United States. Surrounding states are Wisconsin to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the west, Kentucky to the east and south, and Indiana to the east. Illinois also borders Michigan, but only via a northeastern water boundary in Lake Michigan. Nearly the entire western boundary of Illinois is the Mississippi River, except for a few areas where the river has changed course. Illinois' southeastern and southern boundary is along the Wabash River and the Ohio River, whereas its northern boundary and much of its eastern boundary are straight survey lines. Illinois has a maximum north–south distance of 390 miles (630 km) and 210 miles (340 km) east-west. Its total area is 57,918 square miles (150,010 km2).
Charles "Charlie" Birger was an American bootlegger during the Prohibition period in southern Illinois.
Area codes 618 and 730 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for southern Illinois. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises one hundred and twenty-six municipalities, such as Carbondale, Cairo, Belleville, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Marion, O'Fallon, Alton, Mt. Vernon, Centralia, Herrin, Salem, Metropolis, Fairview Heights, Collinsville, and Granite City. Area code 618 was one of the original North American area codes created in 1947, and 730 was added to the plan area to form an overlay complex to satisfy the need for more telephone numbers in the region. The current population of the 618/730 area code is 1,288,816 people. It encompasses approximately 15,458 square mile ; and has a population density of 83.38 people per square mile.
Metro Lakeland is a name that was coined in the 1960s for an area of southern Illinois that is centered on 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. Metro Lakeland was defined as Jackson, Williamson, Franklin, Saline, and Perry counties, with a combined population of approximately 210,000. Carbondale, Herrin, and Marion are the key urban areas, with a combined city-proper population of over 65,000 Carbondale, the site of Southern Illinois University, is the region's largest city. Metro Lakeland is about 88 miles (142 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri, or 120 miles (190 km) by Interstate highway.
Kenneth James Gray was an American businessman and politician. He was a veteran of World War II, and represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives from 1955 to 1974, and again from 1985 to 1989.
Little Grassy Lake is a 1,200 acres (490 ha) reservoir in southern Illinois, created by the damming of Little Grassy Creek, a tributary of Crab Orchard Lake and the Big Muddy River. Most of the lake is located in Williamson County, southeast of Carbondale, Illinois. The lake is accessible from Giant City Road out of Carbondale, Illinois. Two arms of the lake penetrate into adjacent Jackson County. The lake is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.
Robert Lee Butler served as the mayor of Marion, Illinois from May 1963 until he resigned on January 31, 2018, for health reasons. At the time of his resignation, he was the second longest-serving mayor in the United States.
Halfway, Illinois was a rough and very wet unincorporated community nicknamed "Little Juarez" in Williamson County, Illinois, at what is believed to the crossroads of Illinois Route 37 and Prosperity Road between Marion and Johnston City. Its heyday was between 1915 and 1925. The name originated because it was about halfway between Marion and Herrin, located a few miles to the west on what is now a county highway. The nickname came about from the general lawlessness, shootings and proliferation of gambling and booze, even during Prohibition.
Ora Marion Collard was an American businessman and politician.
Esco Niblo Bowen was an American lawyer, judge, and politician.
↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
↑ "HOME". City of Marion. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
↑ Barbara Burr Hubbs. 1939, reprint 1979. Pioneer Folks and Places. Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society. 169–170
↑ Barbara Burr Hubbs. 1939, reprint 1979. Pioneer Folks and Places. Marion, Ill.: Williamson County Historical Society. 170; and James N. Adams, comp. 1989. Illinois Place Names. Springfield, Ill. Illinois State Historical Society. 431.
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