Equality, Illinois

Not to be confused with Equality Illinois.

Equality, Illinois
Village
Monument honoring Michael Kelly Lawler on the former site of the Gallatin County Courthouse
Location of Equality in Gallatin County, Illinois.
Location of Illinois in the United States
Coordinates: 37°44′11″N 88°20′40″W
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Gallatin
Area
• Total	0.90 sq mi (2.33 km2)
• Land	0.88 sq mi (2.27 km2)
• Water	0.02 sq mi (0.05 km2)
Elevation	427 ft (130 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	539
• Density	614.60/sq mi (237.19/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP Code(s)	62934
Area code	618
FIPS code	17-24348
GNIS ID	2398838

Equality is a village in Gallatin County, Illinois, United States. The population was 539 at the 2020 census. Near the village are two points of interest, the Crenshaw House and the Garden of the Gods Wilderness. Equality was the county seat of Gallatin County from 1826–1851.

History

On Jan. 26, 1826, Equality was officially established by the General Assembly as the county seat of Gallatin County. The courthouse was built in 1827 for the amount of $1,300.00 dollars. Court was held there until 1851, when all legal documents were removed to Shawneetown, The building was later used as a school, church & local society meetings. It was destroyed by fire Nov. 28, 1894.

Salt Works

French settlers extracted salt near Equality as early as 1735, while Native Americans made salt here long before then. In 1803, the American Indians ceded their "Great Salt Springs" to the US government by treaty. The government then leased the springs, requiring the holder to produce a certain quantity of salt each year or pay a penalty. The salt works is referred to as the "United States Saline" in old documents.

Isaac White was in charge of the salt works in 1811. White volunteered for the Indiana Militia that year, and was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

Special territorial laws permitted exceptions to anti-slavery treaties at these salines, and slaves were used extensively in manufacturing salt. The census of 1820 for Gallatin County listed 239 slaves or servants.

During the 1820s, Gallatin County included what is now Saline County as its western half. In 1826, the county seat was moved from Old Shawneetown, on the eastern edge of the county, to the new village of Equality, near the center of what was then Gallatin County. Equality remained the county seat until the formation of Saline County in 1847.

In 1838, a local salt maker and illegal slave trader, John Hart Crenshaw, began building his manor house at Hickory Hill just five miles east of Equality; he used the house for his business of kidnapping free blacks and breeding slaves to sell into slavery as part of the Reverse Underground Railroad.

The Great Salt Springs are located southeast of Equality, on federal land along the south bank of the Saline River, seven-tenths of a mile west of Illinois Route 1 on Salt Well Road. Half Moon Lick, where the saltworks first developed as a large industry, is on private property southwest of Equality.

The Saline River of southeastern Illinois near the U.S. Salines, in Equality, Illinois, where leased out Kentucky slaves boiled down salt brine water from the river into usable salt for sale.

1970s photograph of the Old Slave House.

John Crenshaw, a notorious illegal kidnapper slave trader, holding a crutch, for support because of a missing leg severed in an attack by an axe-wielding slave, with his wife, Francine "Sina" Taylor, from the only known photograph of them, date unknown.

Geography

Equality is located in western Gallatin County at 37°44′11″N 88°20′40″W (37.736472, -88.344473), on the north side of the Saline River, a southeast-flowing tributary of the Ohio River.

According to the 2010 census, Equality has a total area of 0.906 square miles (2.35 km²), of which 0.89 square miles (2.31 km²) (or 98.23%) is land and 0.016 square miles (0.04 km²) (or 1.77%) is water.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1860	369		—
1870	356		−3.5%
1880	500		40.4%
1890	622		24.4%
1900	898		44.4%
1910	1,180		31.4%
1920	1,332		12.9%
1930	830		−37.7%
1940	971		17.0%
1950	830		−14.5%
1960	665		−19.9%
1970	732		10.1%
1980	831		13.5%
1990	748		−10.0%
2000	721		−3.6%
2010	595		−17.5%
2020	539		−9.4%
U.S. Decennial Census

As of the 2020 census there were 539 people, 218 households, and 129 families residing in the village. The population density was 600.22 inhabitants per square mile (231.75/km²). There were 280 housing units at an average density of 311.80 per square mile (120.39/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.66% White, 0.00% African American, 0.00% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.19% from other races, and 2.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.04% of the population.

There were 218 households, out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.70% were married couples living together, 20.64% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.83% were non-families. 40.83% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.43% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 2.03.

The village's age distribution consisted of 18.1% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 26.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.7 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $41,563, and the median income for a family was $47,656. Males had a median income of $34,615 versus $22,083 for females. The per capita income for the village was $23,047. About 18.6% of families and 24.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 40.0% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.

Further reading

• 1887. History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co.
• 1903 The Salines of Southern Illinois by Professor George W Smith
• Musgrave, Jon, ed. 2002. Handbook of Old Gallatin County and Southeastern Illinois. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com. 464 pages.
• Musgrave, Jon. 2004, Rev. ed. 2005. Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw: The Real Story of the Old Slave House and America's Reverse Underground R.R.. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com. 705 pages.

References

• Stu Fliege. 2002. Trails & Tales of Illinois. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
• Jon Musgrave. 2005. Slaves, Salt, Sex & Mr. Crenshaw. Marion, Ill.: IllinoisHistory.com.
• Gillum Ferguson. 2007. The Perilous Infancy of Saline County, Journal of Illinois History, Vol. 10, p. 49.

External links

• Equality
• Glen O. Jones Lake