Fulton County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 37,069. Its county seat is Lewistown, and the largest city is Canton. Fulton County comprises the Canton, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Peoria-Canton, IL Combined Statistical Area.
Patrick O'Brian is the Chairman of the Fulton County Board. Mike Hays was the County Administrator until the position was eliminated.
The current Miss Fulton County (2019) is Alexandra Chamberlin of Canton, IL.
History
Fulton County was organized in 1823 from Pike County. It is named for Robert Fulton, developer of the first commercially successful steamboat. American poet/writer Edgar Lee Masters lived in Fulton County during the 1890s; he later became famous for the Spoon River Anthology, written in 1915. Fulton County was home to Camp Ellis during World War II.
The county is known for the annual Spoon River Scenic Drive which occurs the first 2 weekends in October. This has been a tradition since 1968 and attracts thousands of participants from all over the country.
Fulton County is home to the Ogden-Fettie Site, a significant site for Havana Hopewell Native culture. It is the largest collection of Woodland Mounds in Illinois, with 35 Mounds, dating from 400 BCE, arranged in a crescent.
Geography
According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.9%) is water.
Fulton County is the site of Dickson Mounds Museum, a state museum of Native American daily life in the Illinois River valley.
Climate and weather
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Lewistown have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1999 and a record high of was recorded in July 1983. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.
Adjacent counties
Warren County - northwest
Knox County - north
Peoria County - northeast
Tazewell County - east
Mason County - south
Schuyler County - southwest
McDonough County - west
National protected area
Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge
Transportation
Major highways
25px US Route 24
25px US Route 136
25px Illinois Route 9
25px Illinois Route 41
25px Illinois Route 78
25px Illinois Route 95
25px Illinois Route 97
25px Illinois Route 100
25px Illinois Route 116
Airport
The county contains one public-use airport: Ingersoll Airport (CTK), located in Canton.
Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 37,069 people, 14,536 households, and 9,744 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 16,195 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.4% white, 3.4% black or African American, 0.4% American Indian, 0.3% Asian, 1.6% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.7% were German, 19.1% were American, 14.0% were English, and 13.2% were Irish.
Of the 14,536 households, 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.0% were non-families, and 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.86. The median age was 41.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $41,268 and the median income for a family was $50,596. Males had a median income of $41,376 versus $28,596 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,309. About 9.9% of families and 13.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.2% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.
Communities
Cities
Canton
Cuba
Farmington
Lewistown (seat)
Town
Astoria
Villages
Avon
Banner
Bryant
Dunfermline
Ellisville
Fairview
Ipava
Liverpool
London Mills
Marietta
Norris
Smithfield
St. David
Table Grove
Vermont
Unincorporated communities
Babylon
Beaty
Bernadotte
Blyton
Breeds
Brereton
Checkrow
Depler Springs
Duncan Mills
Enion
Fiatt
Gilchrist
Leesburg
Little America
Manley
Maples Mill
Marbletown
Middlegrove
Monterey
Poverty Ridge
Rawalts
Sepo
Seville
Summum
Townships
Astoria
Banner
Bernadotte
Buckheart
Canton
Cass
Deerfield
Ellisville
Fairview
Farmers
Farmington
Harris
Isabel
Joshua
Kerton
Lee
Lewistown
Liverpool
Orion
Pleasant
Putman
Union
Vermont
Waterford
Woodland
Young Hickory
Bases
Camp Ellis
Politics
In its early years, Fulton County favored the Democratic Party, being one of the northernmost Democratic counties and the nearest to Yankee, then solidly Republican Northern Illinois. It was never won by a Republican until the Democratic Party moved towards the Populist Party’s policies under William Jennings Bryan, a change which resulted in the county voting Republican except in landslide victories between 1896 and 1960. In that period, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936 was the solitary Democratic presidential candidate to gain a majority of the county’s vote.
However, the 1964 election saw the county trend Democratic – so much so that Hubert Humphrey gained a narrow plurality in his 1968 election loss. Despite not going Democratic again until 1988, the party would always remain competitive in the county, and between 1988 and 2012 every Democratic presidential candidate gained a majority in Fulton County. However, concern over economic decline in the “Rust Belt” saw Donald Trump produce a dramatic swing in the 2016 election, winning Fulton County by fifteen percentage points and gaining the best GOP record in the county since 1980.
In popular culture
The fictional town of Lanford, Illinois in the sitcom Roseanne is set in Fulton County.
