Stockton, Illinois


Stockton is a village in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,728 at the 2020 census.
WWW villageofstockton.com

History

The village of Stockton is the youngest village in Jo Daviess County. It was established after the Minnesota Northwestern Railroad decided to build a station in Section 2 of Stockton Township in 1886, which through mergers later became named the Chicago Great Western Railway. The railroad tracks were removed in the early 1970s.
What is now Front Street in Stockton was then a dirt road which served as the main thoroughfare to Lena. In April 1887, one Charles Hermann became Stockton's first business owner.
In 1914, the Kraft Brothers opened a cheese factory in Stockton, and operated it until Kraft sold the facility in 1998. This was the birthplace of the Kraft Corporation and the first cheese plant opened by J.L. Kraft.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Stockton has a total area of, all land.

Geology

Stockton is not part of the Driftless Area, but is the first municipality found outside of it, coming from western Jo Daviess County. One climbs out of the valley of the Upper Mississippi River and finds a high point in Stockton.
The village water tower sits on a ridge at elevation that rises to to the west at the village limits. To the northwest the same ridge line continues where U.S. Route 20 crests at just to the west. This ridge line continues for 3 miles to the northwest to Benton Mound, the second highest peak in Illinois.

Historical landmarks

Major highways

Demographics

As of the 2020 census there were 1,728 people, 774 households, and 481 families residing in the village. The population density was. There were 873 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the village was 93.75% White, 0.81% African American, 0.06% Native American, 0.52% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.46% from other races, and 4.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.36% of the population.
There were 774 households, out of which 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.92% were married couples living together, 20.28% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.86% were non-families. 32.69% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.28% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 2.05.
The village's age distribution consisted of 23.2% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 25.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.8 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $43,295, and the median income for a family was $55,060. Males had a median income of $31,643 versus $20,441 for females. The per capita income for the village was $26,501. About 23.5% of families and 18.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.1% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people