Herrin

Sister cities

• Cuggiono

History

The settlement of Herrin started out as scattered settlers on Herring's Prairie named for the first permanent settler Isaac Herring, a Baptist preacher. Later, his son-in-law David Herrin arrived and the similarity in names led to the eventual shortening of the name to just Herrin's Prairie. The trails from Jordan's fort to Humphreys' ford on the Big Muddy River intersected the old trail from Lusk's ferry at modern-day Golconda to Kaskaskia, which was first settled by French colonists. Isaac Herring entered the first land in what became Herrin on 4 November 1816, two years before Illinois became a state. He paid $2 an acre for the . At the time he lived to the west in Jackson County, the land entry was the northeast quarter off Section 30, Township 8 South, Range 2 East of the Third Principal Meridian. Today that area runs between 17th and 27th streets, and from West Cherry Street on the north to West Stotlar Street on the south. David Ruffin Harrison started storekeeping on the prairie in 1858. During the Civil War, he built a frame store building and secured a fourth class post office that opened on May 26, 1864. After coal was discovered and mining began in nearby Carterville, Harrison, and his cousins Ephraim Snyder Herrin and Mrs. Williams in 1892 prospected for coal beginning at the southwest corner of Williams' farm, identified in 1939 as the corner of Legion Boulevard and East Herrin Street. (Legion Boulevard no longer appears on the maps, but the reference indicates the intersection was the North and North East public roads. The 1908 county atlas shows North East Public Road two blocks east of Park Avenue which would make it North 13th Street). "The men put up the cash, Mrs. Williams boarded the workers. A fine vein of coal was found at 185 feet." In 1895,…

Geography

According to the 2010 census, Herrin has a total area of , of which (or 97.56%) is land and (or 2.44%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,051
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  4,861
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,778
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  4,510
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,459
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,264
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  3,870
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,855

Most recent

• M 2.81 — 2024-03-28
  1 km NNE of Germantown, Illinois
• M 2.53 — 2024-03-05
  6 km ENE of Pinckneyville, Illinois
• M 3.07 — 2023-12-18
  5 km WNW of Waltonville, Illinois
• M 2.59 — 2023-08-23
  3 km ENE of Wilson City, Missouri
• M 2.52 — 2022-05-17
  6 km NNW of Mount Vernon, Illinois
• M 2.57 — 2022-04-13
  3 km SE of Springerton, Illinois