Gibson City

History

The site of Gibson City was purchased and platted by Jonathan B. Lott in 1869. In 1870, Lott built a home and a post office there, and several stores and a grain elevator were constructed. Lott named the place Gibson after the maiden name of his wife, Margaret Gibson Lott, and City was added later by the post office department. Both the Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad and the Chicago and Paducah Railroad reached the town in 1871, allowing its population to grow. Gibson City was incorporated as a village in 1872, with T. D. Spalding, J. H. Collier, S. J. LeFevre, Bruce McCormick, and W. T. Kerr serving as the first trustees. Spalding acted as the first village president (mayor). A third railroad, the LaFayette, Muncie and Bloomington Railroad, was built through Gibson City in 1874. In the same year, one of the railroads signed a contract that paid Augustana College, located in Paxton at the time, a commission of $1 per acre on all railroad land sold to Swedish settlers. In 1883, a fire in the town caused $50,000 ($1,500,000 in 2023 dollars) in property damage. The town received around 10 inches of rain in ten hours, with roads becoming unusable and numerous water rescues conducted. Thomas M. Bennett who is a Gibson City native, and at that time represented the district Gibson City resides in to the Illinois House of Representatives, is quoted as saying about the event: “The rains came and came and you thought there was somebody named Noah.” The flood caused around $10-$12 million in damages, and left many people stranded and/or homeless.

Geography

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Gibson City has a total area of , of which (or 98.47%) is land and (or 1.53%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  470
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  450
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  447
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  375
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  328
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  309
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  288
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  288

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2025-03-15
  6 km W of Dwight, Illinois