Allerton

History

Samuel W. Allerton was a wealthy landowner in Vermilion County who had made his fortune on the agricultural and livestock markets. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Chicago and co-founder of the Chicago Union Stockyards. The town was founded on a tract of land in the southwestern part of the county which Allerton purchased in 1880. It had formerly been known as Twin Grove Farm (because of two very similar groves of trees in the area). When the C&EI railroad came through the area, he gave them a right-of-way through his land, and then established a grain elevator and platted the village; later he provided land for a park, established a bank, provided funds for a new brick school in 1894, and installed a water system. Allerton himself continued to live in Chicago. Samuel Allerton also owned 12,000 acres in Piatt County, part of which later became the Robert Allerton Park, farther west in the Monticello area; Robert was Samuel's son who oversaw his father's agricultural interests in Illinois. Samuel's total land holdings included 78,000 acres across four Midwest states.

Geography

Allerton is located near the southwestern corner of Vermilion County and extends west into Champaign County in two places. Champaign-Urbana is about to the northwest, and Danville is the same distance to the northeast. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Allerton has a total area of , all land. Allerton is located on the county line, and a small portion of is located in Champaign County, Illinois.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,374
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,177
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,950
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,944
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,798
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,741
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,650
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  1,641

Largest nearby schools

• Salt Fork Junior High School
  Middle · Sidell · 186 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Salt Fork South Elementary School
  Elementary · Sidell · 164 students · 9.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.26 — 2025-05-13
  7 km SSW of Lerna, Illinois
• M 2.5 — 2023-10-31
  7 km ESE of Linden, Indiana
• M 3.82 — 2021-06-17
  Illinois-Indiana border region
• M 2.5 — 2007-11-28
  5 km S of Hutsonville, Illinois