South Pekin, Illinois

South Pekin
Village
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Tazewell
Elevation	516 ft (157 m)
Coordinates	40°29′34″N 89°39′7″W
Area	0.4 sq mi (1 km2)
- land	0.4 sq mi (1 km2)
Density	2,708.2 / sq mi (1,046 / km2)
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Postal code	61564
Area code	309
Location of South Pekin within Illinois
Wikimedia Commons: South Pekin, Illinois

South Pekin is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,077 at the 2010 census and is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

South Pekin was founded at around 1914, five miles south of Pekin. The town was created when the Chicago and North Western Railway built a switching yard, roundhouse, and track and locomotive service facilities at this strategic loction on its lines between St. Louis and Chicago. In addition to numerous blue collar jobs the C&NW operation also brought in management positions and erected a three story masonry office building.

The business people of Pekin were naturally very interested to pull the switch yard closer and get the new "railroad people" with steady work and good pay in their town, but ultimately most employees opted to settle close to the yard. To get up and running quickly the C&NW constructed rail spurs into the field which is now the South Pekin Park on which new boxcars were modified into temporary living quarters.

South Pekin, Illinois was a home terminal for Chicago and Northwestern Railroad crews. Trains were made up in the middle of the town in a "Kick" Yard. After the trains were put together, crews would get on the train and proceed south to East St. Louis, Illinois or north to Nelson, IL where they would be relieved and allowed to sleep for the next tour of operation. The Chicago and North Western maintained a bunkhouse in South Pekin where crews could stop for the night. In the 1970s train crews would go onward through Nelson, IL and proceed to Proviso, IL (a suburb of Chicago) or else to Clinton, Iowa. At times there were as many as 20 + trains per day either made up at South Pekin, IL or that went through South Pekin.

All these tracks running north-to-south through the middle of town created two communities -- the East side and the West side. To get to the other side of town it was common to be delayed 20 minutes by switching operations or by a long train called a drag to clear the tracks. This was a problem sometimes as the fire station was on the West side.

There was another railroad line on the east side of South Pekin; the "Illinois Central". It would interchange cars onto a siding where they would be collated in the Northwestern trains. Not a lot of activity but this added to the awareness of railroads in the community.

In the early 1900s South Pekin grew to be a bustling town with its own bank, grocery and general stores, bakery, service stations, restaurants, and two hotels (one on the East and one on the West)and all of the amenities. The center of the social world was the Comfort Inn on the West Side which offered Vaudville, dancing, flickers, pool hall, barber, minor gambling, dining and bar. The bustling activity of the village slowed in the late 20th century and many businesses faded.

In the post war period South Pekin was a place that you would recognize from the popular movie Christmas Story. In the 1950's South Pekin athletes were key to the success of Pekin Community High School teams.

The community has seen its share of disasters. In the great Midwestern tornado of 1938, South Pekin was nearly wiped out. Then during the Midwest Flood, South Pekin was one of the hardest hit towns in central Illinois. Then again on May 10, 2003, another tornado touched down 3 miles southwest of South Pekin around 9:45 PM. As it crossed Highway 29 it continued to strengthen and was at F3 intensity. It went through South Pekin at 9:50 PM and was a quarter mile wide. There were 23 injuries in South Pekin but no fatalities. Today the town is mostly restored and a new warning system was added on each side of the village. (Money donated by residents allowed the new system to be purchased.)

South Pekin has been a home to a recording studio called Golden Voice Recording owned and operated by Jerry L and Mary Anne Milam.

South Pekin's history can be roughly divided into three time segments: the original C&NW employees and home builders (growth), the post war period where the town did not grow but held its own, followed by some decline and loss of almost all businesses, including most of the C&NW which is now actually Union Pacific -- image of The Last Picture Show. South Pekin continues to hang on to the Midwestern way and is currently a village of approximately 1100 people (in accordance with 2010 census information).

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,162 people, 417 households, and 314 families residing in the village. The population density was 2,708.2 people per square mile (1,043.4/km²). There were 438 housing units at an average density of 1,020.8 per square mile (393.3/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 99.31% White, 0.09% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.17% Asian, and 0.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.12% of the population.

There were 417 households out of which 42.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were non-families. 87% of "married" couples are related. 18.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the village the population was spread out with 31.0% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.1 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $40,455, and the median income for a family was $42,102. Males had a median income of $32,292 versus $20,125 for females. The per capita income for the village was $15,717. About 6.1% of families and 7.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.