Walnut Hill

History

Walnut Hill was once the intersection of two of the main roads in Illinois: the George Rogers Clark Trace and the Yadda Road. The original capital of Illinois was at Kaskaskia, southwest of present-day Walnut Hill. The overland route from Kaskaskia to the interior of the state followed the Kaskaskia/Big Muddy River divide, which went through Walnut Hill. George Rogers Clark marched through Walnut Hill in February 1779 on his march from Fort Kaskaskia to Fort Vincennes, which resulted in the conquest of Illinois by the army of Virginia. Traces of the Kaskaskia/Vincennes road can be seen in several short stretches in northwestern Jefferson County, which point toward Walnut Hill, ignoring the surveyed Section boundaries. Northeast of Walnut Hill, the Kell Road is a winding, pioneer road up to its intersection with Interstate 57, from which it follows the modern Section lines to Kell. Walnut Hill was also on the Goshen Road, an early road across Illinois, from Shawneetown to the Goshen Settlement near Glen Carbon. Remnants of the Goshen Road can be seen in short segments of Pioneer Road between Dix and Walnut Hill. The construction of the railroad tracks from Dix to Walnut Hill possibly obliterated much of the original Goshen road. In 1823, Thomas D. Minor built a road from Mount Vernon to Walnut Hill. This was called the "Vandalia Road", in that it connected with roads to the new state capital in Vandalia. The new road joined the Goshen Road just south of Walnut Hill. Today, it is called the "Old Centralia Road". The new road eventually captured much of the traffic on the Goshen Road since it provided a shorter route across Jefferson County. The modern road (Walnut Hill Road) running northwest out of Walnut Hill toward Centralia is the same as the Goshen Road as…

Geography

Walnut Hill is located in southwestern Marion County. Its southern border is the Jefferson County line. The county boundary is the baseline of the Third Principal Meridian, also called the Centralia Baseline. The survey of this area was begun as early as 1804. Centralia is to the northwest of Walnut Hill, and Salem, the Marion county seat, is to the northeast. Mount Vernon, the Jefferson County seat, is 14 miles to the southeast. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Walnut Hill has a total area of , all land. To the north of Walnut Hill is Raccoon Creek, a west-flowing tributary of the Kaskaskia River. To the south is the Big Muddy River, a small creek at the northernmost limit of its watershed. Walnut Hill is thus on the Kaskaskia/Big Muddy divide. That divide is a ridge that formed a natural, pioneer highway from Sparta to Kell, perhaps properly called the "Highway to Kell".

Race & ethnicity