Hardin County, Illinois

	█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
	█ Precipitation totals in inches
	Source: The Weather Channel

Elizabethtown, Illinois
Climate chart (explanation)
	█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
	█ Precipitation totals in inches
	Source: The Weather Channel
Metric conversion
	█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
	█ Precipitation totals in mm

Hardin County
Hardin County
County
	Hardin County Courthouse in Elizabethtown
	Location within the U.S. state of Illinois
	Illinois's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 37°31′53″N 88°22′06″W / 37.5314°N 88.3683°W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
Founded	1839
Named for	Hardin County, Kentucky
Seat	Elizabethtown
Largest city	Rosiclare
Area
• Total	182 sq mi (470 km2)
• Land	178 sq mi (460 km2)
• Water	4.1 sq mi (11 km2) 2.2%
Population (2020)
• Total	3,649
• Density	20/sq mi (8/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	12th
Website	www.hardincountyil.org

Hardin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 3,649,^[1] making it the least populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Elizabethtown.^[2] Hardin County is located in the part of the state known as Little Egypt. Hardin County was named for Hardin County, Kentucky, which was named in honor of Colonel John Hardin, an officer in the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War.

History

Hardin County was formed in 1839 from Pope County. Additional area was later added from Gallatin County. Hardin County was named for Hardin County, Kentucky, which was named in honor of Colonel John Hardin, an officer in the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. Hardin was murdered by Shawnee Indians while he was on a peace mission in 1792 for President George Washington, in what is now Shelby County, Ohio. In the 1790s and early 1800s, the Hardin County area, especially Cave-In-Rock, was notorious as a stronghold used by outlaws, bandits, river pirates, and counterfeiters.

Hardin County between 1839 and 1847
Hardin in 1847, when it was enlarged to its current size

Geography

Fluorite mineral specimen from Hardin County

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 182 square miles (470 km²), of which 178 square miles (460 km²) is land and 4.1 square miles (11 km²) (2.2%) is water.^[3] It is the second-smallest county in Illinois by area.

Hicks Dome (37°31′53″N 88°22′06″W / 37.53139°N 88.36833°W / 37.53139; -88.36833) is a geological feature in Hardin County. The Hicks Dome is underlain by ultramafic igneous rocks and igneous diatremes or breccia pipes. Most geologists accept the theory that the older rocks at the center of the uplift are a result of this deep-seated igneous activity. This activity may also have provided the fluorine in the fluorspar deposits in the region. Fluorspar, or calcium fluoride, was mined in Hardin County until the early 1990s.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Elizabethtown have ranged from a low of 21 °F (−6 °C) in January to a high of 87 °F (31 °C) in July, although a record low of −22 °F (−30 °C) was recorded in January 1994 and a record high of 104 °F (40 °C) was recorded in August 2007. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 3.22 inches (82 mm) in October to 5.02 inches (128 mm) in May.^[4]

Adjacent counties

Transit

Rides Mass Transit District

Major highways

National protected area

Shawnee National Forest (part)

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1840	1,378		—
1850	2,887		109.5%
1860	3,759		30.2%
1870	5,113		36.0%
1880	6,024		17.8%
1890	7,234		20.1%
1900	7,448		3.0%
1910	7,015		−5.8%
1920	7,533		7.4%
1930	6,955		−7.7%
1940	7,759		11.6%
1950	7,530		−3.0%
1960	5,879		−21.9%
1970	4,914		−16.4%
1980	5,383		9.5%
1990	5,189		−3.6%
2000	4,800		−7.5%
2010	4,320		−10.0%
2020	3,649		−15.5%
2023 (est.)	3,569	^[5]	−2.2%
U.S. Decennial Census^[6] 1790-1960^[7] 1900-1990^[8] 1990-2000^[9] 2010-2017^[1]

As of the 2010 census, there were 4,320 people, 1,915 households, and 1,234 families residing in the county.^[10] The population density was 24.3 inhabitants per square mile (9.4/km²). There were 2,488 housing units at an average density of 14.0 per square mile (5.4/km²).^[3] The racial makeup of the county was 97.3% white, 0.6% American Indian, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.3% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.3% of the population.^[10] In terms of ancestry, 26.5% were Irish, 23.8% were German, 10.4% were English, and 4.3% were American.^[11]

Of the 1,915 households, 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.6% were non-families, and 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 46.3 years.^[10]

The median income for a household in the county was $27,578 and the median income for a family was $38,576. Males had a median income of $42,955 versus $26,683 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,515. About 17.4% of families and 22.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.4% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over.^[12]

Communities

City

Rosiclare

Villages

Unincorporated communities

Precincts

Ghost towns

Notable people

Jeremiah Patton (composer/musician) | 1980-present, musician principal composer/arranger/lead guitarist for the acclaimed, award winning band Ceremony of Darkness, co-founder of Grave Robber Records
James Ford (1775-1833), civic leader and secret criminal leader of a gang of Ohio River pirates and highwaymen
James Karber (1914–1976), Illinois lawyer, businessman, and politician
Isaiah L. Potts (1784?-after 1843), tavern keeper of the notorious Potts Tavern who, allegedly, ran a gang of pirates and highwaymen
Jennifer Rhodes (1947-), television and film actress from Rosiclare
Sturdivant Gang, 19th century counterfeiters in Rosiclare

Politics

United States presidential election results for Hardin County, Illinois^[14]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	1,691	78.21%	449	20.77%	22	1.02%
2016	1,653	76.96%	420	19.55%	75	3.49%
2012	1,535	65.88%	742	31.85%	53	2.27%
2008	1,330	58.80%	892	39.43%	40	1.77%
2004	1,501	61.59%	923	37.87%	13	0.53%
2000	1,366	51.80%	1,184	44.90%	87	3.30%
1996	790	30.19%	1,323	50.55%	504	19.26%
1992	985	31.04%	1,665	52.47%	523	16.48%
1988	1,504	53.26%	1,308	46.32%	12	0.42%
1984	1,689	58.26%	1,205	41.57%	5	0.17%
1980	1,721	55.27%	1,314	42.20%	79	2.54%
1976	1,393	46.17%	1,602	53.10%	22	0.73%
1972	1,915	62.54%	1,140	37.23%	7	0.23%
1968	1,492	51.75%	1,199	41.59%	192	6.66%
1964	1,324	44.68%	1,639	55.32%	0	0.00%
1960	1,944	56.96%	1,465	42.92%	4	0.12%
1956	1,919	56.93%	1,444	42.84%	8	0.24%
1952	1,984	55.84%	1,563	43.99%	6	0.17%
1948	1,713	55.49%	1,358	43.99%	16	0.52%
1944	2,037	59.25%	1,370	39.85%	31	0.90%
1940	2,333	53.84%	1,974	45.56%	26	0.60%
1936	2,008	50.06%	1,984	49.46%	19	0.47%
1932	1,559	48.37%	1,610	49.95%	54	1.68%
1928	1,758	64.35%	933	34.15%	41	1.50%
1924	1,378	49.06%	1,358	48.34%	73	2.60%
1920	1,555	61.54%	943	37.32%	29	1.15%
1916	1,419	51.68%	1,264	46.03%	63	2.29%
1912	691	43.60%	644	40.63%	250	15.77%
1908	813	52.52%	680	43.93%	55	3.55%
1904	756	49.09%	642	41.69%	142	9.22%
1900	753	46.31%	839	51.60%	34	2.09%
1896	780	46.15%	900	53.25%	10	0.59%
1892	660	43.11%	700	45.72%	171	11.17%

In its early history, Hardin County was opposed to the “Yankee” Republican Party and its Civil War against the South – with whom it was closely allied both culturally and economically. It did not vote for a Republican presidential candidate until Theodore Roosevelt’s 1904 landslide.

Since 1904, however, Hardin County has turned powerfully Republican. Like the nearby counties of Johnson, Massac and Pope, it managed to remain loyal to William Howard Taft during the 1912 election when the Republican Party was mortally divided. Hardin County would next be carried by a Democratic presidential candidate in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 landslide victory, and not after that until Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The county did trend Democratic in the following three decades, actually voting more Democratic than the nation at-large between 1972 and 1996. Nonetheless, since 2000 Hardin County has followed the same political trajectory as Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia and Appalachian regions of adjacent states, whereby the Democratic Party's liberal views on social issues have produced dramatic swings to the Republican Party amongst its almost entirely Southern white population.^[15] The past six Presidential elections have observed a swing totalling 79 percentage points to the GOP, with Hillary Clinton in 2016 receiving barely half the proportion of the worst-performing Democrat from before 2010.