Filmed on Sunday, April 2, 2023, I drive around the village of Havana, Illinois to see what’s happening.
Havana is a city in Mason County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,963 at the 2020 census, down from 3,301 in 2010. It is the county seat of Mason County.
Havana was a major ancient American settlement two thousand years ago, when the largest verified mound of the Western Hopewell Culture was built. Local landmarks were mentioned in the journals of French explorers in the late 1600s. A religious medal dating from the early 1700s suggests that there was missionary activity in what is now Havana.
When permanent English-speaking residents arrived in 1822, there was a Pottawatomie village on the site. A ferry was established to the western bank of the Illinois River to a road that followed the Spoon River. There were War of 1812 bounty lands in western Illinois.
Abraham Lincoln was a frequent visitor to Havana between his days as a soldier in the Black Hawk Wars until at least his three-hour speech on the Rockwell Mound while he was running for the US Senate in 1858. Stephen Douglas had spoken there the day before.
When he was younger, Lincoln rode a mail route from New Salem to Havana. Later, he was a local surveyor, and then an itinerant attorney. Mason County was the only place where Lincoln owned farmland. The English-speaking settlement was originally called “Ross’s Ferry” and was later named after Havana, the capital of Cuba.
Havana was notorious as a gambling river town, and it is reported that names such as Al Capone would hunt, fish, and gamble in the local clubs.
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,577 people, 1,467 households, and 981 families residing in the city.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,316, and the median income for a family was $35,684. Males had a median income of $30,833 versus $21,215 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,781. About 10.2% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 7.5% of those age 65 or over.
The racial makeup of the city was 98.49% White, 0.14% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.59% of the population.
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