Royal, Illinois

Royal
Village

Grain elevators and watertower in Royal, IL
Royal
Royal

Location within Champaign County

Coordinates: 40°11′36″N 87°58′23″W / 40.19333°N 87.97306°W / 40.19333; -87.97306Coordinates: 40°11′36″N 87°58′23″W / 40.19333°N 87.97306°W / 40.19333; -87.97306
Country United States
State Illinois
County Champaign
Area
 • Total 0.16 sq mi (0.4 km2)
 • Land 0.16 sq mi (0.4 km2)
 • Water 0.00 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation 684 ft (208 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 293
 • Density 1,800/sq mi (710/km2)
Time zone CST (UTC-6)
 • Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
Postal code 61871
Area code(s) 217

Royal is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 293 at the 2010 census.

Geography

Royal is located at 40°11′36″N 87°58′23″W / 40.19333°N 87.97306°W / 40.19333; -87.97306 (40.193408, -87.973189).[1]

According to the 2010 census, Royal has a total area of 0.16 square miles (0.41 km2), all land.[2]

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
1960171—
197019715.2%
198027439.1%
1990217−20.8%
200027928.6%
20102935.0%
Est. 2015300[3]2.4%
U.S. Decennial Census[4]

As of the census[5] of 2000, there were 279 people, 128 households, and 81 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,239.9 people per square mile (468.4/km²). There were 133 housing units at an average density of 591.1 per square mile (223.3/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 100.00% White.

There were 128 households out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were married couples living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 21.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.78.

In the village the population was spread out with 19.4% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.7 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $47,188, and the median income for a family was $60,833. Males had a median income of $39,167 versus $26,250 for females. The per capita income for the village was $22,019. None of the families and 0.6% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 3.8% of those over 64.

History

Royal, Illinois is a small town that consists of a couple of grain elevators at the intersection of a railroad and County Road 20. With only a few dozen houses, the town boasts a minimal population of nearly 300 people. Nonetheless, this small, rural community quietly shares a heritage of a community that can accomplish great things with shared vision.

Nearly a hundred years ago, the people of St. John Lutheran Church decided to move their church building into town, to better serve current and future generations of people in the village of Royal. Not everyone initially wanted to move the church building; the vote to move was narrowly split.[6] Nonetheless, having made the decision, the congregation came together and embraced the vision for a ministry within the village of Royal. The people worked together for many long, hard hours to move their church home. Carefully and lovingly, the men and boys of the congregation deconstructed the church, brick by brick, and transported the bricks from out in the country into the village of Royal. There, the congregation women and older men painstakingly cleaned the mortar from the bricks, one by one, to provide the building blocks for a new St. John Lutheran Church to serve the people of Royal. It was a shared labor of love. The church still stands today, with 831 members and an average attendance of 200 people.[7]

Furthermore, this embodied example of people working together with shared vision in a labor of love made an impact on the wider community in Royal. Several years later, in 1982 around the time of the town’s centennial anniversary, people began to talk to one another about constructing a shared Community Building to benefit the current and future people of Royal. Hearkening back to the example of the members of St. John’s, the wider community came together around the shared vision of a community of people living together. This vision took was embodied in the concept of a Community Building.

An apartment building in Champaign, Illinois needed to be demolished. Hearkening back to the example of the people of St. John Lutheran, the people gathered the bricks, and worked together to accomplish the arduous task of cleaning the mortar from each individual brick. The people then built the new Community Building with these bricks, and it was completed the year after the centennial. The building still stands today, and is used routinely by the people of Royal for personal and public events for little or no cost.

References

  1. ↑ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  2. ↑ "G001 - Geographic Identifiers - 2010 Census Summary File 1". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  3. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015". Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  5. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  6. ↑ Cf. St. John’s official website, http://www.stjohnroyal.org/history.html
  7. ↑ http://www.elca.org/ELCA/Search/Find-a-Congregation.aspx#&&congrno=xl6FwbfTeII3TZkDTvZ%2b8K6P%2boH%2bS%2bxMeVP0FA%3d%3d
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