What is the population of Fairbury, Illinois?

Fairbury has a population of approximately 3,713 according to the latest available open data.

Where is Fairbury, Illinois located?

Fairbury is located in Illinois, United States, at approximate coordinates 40.7462°, -88.5156°.

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Fairbury

Illinoiscity

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Fairbury

Total population

3,713

Founded

1857

Elevation208 m

Land area1.83 km²

Weather70°F · Chance Showers And Thunderstorms

Coordinates40.75°, -88.52°

Demographic figures from US Census Bureau · ACS 5-year estimates. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.

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City facts

Founded

1857

Elevation

208 m

Area

1.83 km²

Facts from Wikidata (CC0).

Overview

Fairbury is a city in Livingston County, Illinois, United States. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 census.

History & geography

History

Fairbury was laid out on November 10, 1857, by Caleb L. Patton and Octave Chanute. Like most Illinois towns of the 1850s, the original town of Fairbury was centered on a depot ground. It consisted of twenty-six blocks, each divided into fourteen to sixteen lots. There was no central public square, but one was later included in Marsh's addition. The plan used was virtually identical to that at Chatsworth, Illinois, including the street names, and the plan was similar to that at Gridley and El Paso on the same railroad. Octave Chanute was a civil engineer employed by the new Peoria and Oquawka Railroad, which is now the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad. Caleb L. Patton was an early settler on the land where the town was built. Chanute, a French native, was later famed for publishing Progress in Flying Machines, which helped pioneer aviation (the Wright brothers even mentioned Chanute as a mentor to them). Chanute built the railroad that made Fairbury possible, but did so against the will of Patton, Fairbury's first citizen. Caleb Patton owned the land that the original town was built on and advertised lots for sale, attracting other people to live there. When Patton heard that Chanute wanted to build a railroad in the area's general direction, he saw it as an opportunity to make use of his otherwise deserted land and struck a deal. If Chanute built his railroad through Fairbury, then Patton would give Chanute half of the town's property. Patton and Chanute reached an agreement, and Chanute kept up his end of the deal. Patton gave a small chunk of the land to the Baptist Church and set aside an area for the railroad and a depot. However, when Chanute reached Fairbury, he was met by a group of armed citizens. The town had passed an ordinance that no railroad would…