Prairie City, Illinois
| Prairie City | |
| Village | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Illinois |
| County | McDonough |
| Coordinates | 40°37′15″N 90°27′49″W / 40.62083°N 90.46361°WCoordinates: 40°37′15″N 90°27′49″W / 40.62083°N 90.46361°W |
| Area | 1.02 sq mi (3 km2) |
| - land | 1.02 sq mi (3 km2) |
| - water | 0.00 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Population | 461 (2000) |
| Density | 455.2/sq mi (176/km2) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 61470 |
| Area code | 309 |
   Location of Prairie City within Illinois
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Prairie City is a village in McDonough County, Illinois, United States. The population was 461 at the 2000 census.
Prairie City is located at 40°37′15″N 90°27′49″W / 40.62083°N 90.46361°W (40.620740, -90.463582).
According to the 2010 census, Prairie City has a total area of 1.02 square miles (2.64 km2), all land.
State Highway 41 passes through Prairie City.
From 1937-1950, Prairie City was home to The Decker Press, which in the mid-1940s was the largest publishing house in America devoted exclusively to putting out poetry. The business was not financially successful and its founder, Prairie City native James A. Decker, sold it to a local lumber dealer, Harry M. Denman, who in turn sold it several months later to Ervin Tax, a poet from Chicago. Decker left town, but his wife, Dorothy, remained.
Tax tried to make the business more efficient and profitable -- buying new presses and binding equipment and hiring an artist, sales promoter and other employees. But The Decker Press came to a tragic end in May 1950 when Dorothy, who had fallen in love with Tax in a one-side relationship, shot Tax in the head with a rifle and then killed herself.
Per the 2010 US Census, Prairie City had 379 people. Among non-Hispanics this includes 371 White (97.9%), 5 Black (1.3%), 1 Asian (0.3%), & 1 from two or more races. The Hispanic or Latino population included 1 person (0.3%).
There were 135 households out of which 43 had children under the age of 18 living with them, 80 were married couples living together, 5 (3.7%) had a female householder with children & no husband present, and 34 were non-families. 25 households were made up of individuals and 37 had someone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 2.92.
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