The Kickapoo and Potawatomi Native American tribes lived on the prairie and woodlands around Salt Creek and other local streams. The westward push of traders and adventurers led to settlers around 1825. Dennis Hurley is believed to be the first white settler in the area. Hurley built a cabin in the area, which became known as Hurley's Grove, with other families settling nearby. Some of the founding families were the Kirbys, McCords, Clearwaters, Watsons, Johnson, Webb, Blalach, Weedmans, Coveys, Cummings, and Huddlestons. Hurley's Grove was just south of present-day Farmer City, with increased population by 1837, becoming part of DeWitt County in 1839.
The area to the south of Hurley's Grove was solidified as a permanent settlement, due to the safety of the area's wooded terrain. North of the primary area became known as Mt. Pleasant. Subdivision of the land divided the area into 14 blocks, with a central public square. The first residence built was that of Nathan Clearwater, and William McFall opened a store in 1837. Mail delivery was established in 1837, but with another Mt. Pleasant in the state, the name changed to Santa Anna.
Dewitt County was part of the Eighth Judicial District in the early 1850s, and lawyer Abraham Lincoln traveled in the area many times on his circuit; he was well respected by county residents.[6]C. H. Moore House in nearby Clinton is the former residence of Lincoln's co-counsel in various cases.[7]
The settlement grew in population and physical size, with the center of activity moving northward. The area became connected in 1870 by rail, prospering; that year's census listed 1276 people in the township, and 537 in Mt. Pleasant. The necessity of an official name arose in 1869, with Farmer City chosen after much discussion and debate. The business district was destroyed in 1879 by a major fire, but the town was rebuilt. The rebuilding process had to be rebooted after an 1894 fire destroyed the new business district.
The early years of the next century saw Farmer City grow into a bustling community. A newspaper, the Public Reaper, first printed on November 27, 1879.[8] City fathers helped usher the area into a modern era, with utilities such as a water tower (1920). The new business district was joined by schools, churches, and fine homes. Interstate 74 was completed in the early 1970s. In 1980, an extensive study of the dialect of Farmer City was completed, making the city well known in the field of sociolinguistics.[9]
Geography
According to the 2010 census, Farmer City has a total area of 2.449 square miles (6.34 km2), of which 2.4 square miles (6.22 km2) (or 98%) is land and 0.049 square miles (0.13 km2) (or 2%) is water.[10]
As of the 2020 census[3] there were 1,828 people, 848 households, and 563 families residing in the city. The population density was 748.26 inhabitants per square mile (288.90/km2). There were 884 housing units at an average density of 361.85 per square mile (139.71/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 93.98% White, 0.88% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 4.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.02% of the population.
There were 848 households, out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.08% were married couples living together, 6.01% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.61% were non-families. 31.49% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.92% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.93 and the average family size was 2.37.
The city's age distribution consisted of 24.1% under the age of 18, 2.5% from 18 to 24, 17.6% from 25 to 44, 36.4% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $66,591, and the median income for a family was $84,625. Males had a median income of $36,750 versus $31,725 for females. The per capita income for the city was $27,409. About 7.6% of families and 10.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.8% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.
^"C.H. Moore and Abe Lincoln". C.H. Moore Homestead/DeWitt County Museum. Dewitt County Museum. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
^Sound Change in Farmer City: A Sociolinguistic Study Based on Acoustic Data, Timothy Habick, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana. 1980. Habick, Timothy. (1991). "Burnouts versus rednecks: effects of group membership on the
phonemic system," in Penelope Eckert, ed., New Ways of Analyzing Sound
Change (San Diego: Academic Press), 185-212.
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