Bone Gap, Illinois
| Bone Gap, Illinois | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
 Location of Bone Gap in Edwards County, Illinois. |
|
.svg) Location of Illinois in the United States |
|
| Coordinates: 38°26′49″N 87°59′47″W / 38.44694°N 87.99639°WCoordinates: 38°26′49″N 87°59′47″W / 38.44694°N 87.99639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| County | Edwards |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.60 sq mi (1.55 km2) |
| • Land | 0.60 sq mi (1.55 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 246 |
| • Estimate (2016) | 241 |
| • Density | 402.34/sq mi (155.38/km2) |
| Time zone | CST (UTC−6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC−5) |
| ZIP code | 62815 |
| Area code(s) | 618 |
| FIPS code | 17-07224 |
Bone Gap is a village in Edwards County, Illinois, United States. The population was 246 at the 2010 census, down from 272 at the 2000 census.
Bone Gap is located in northeastern Edwards County at 38°26′49″N 87°59′47″W / 38.44694°N 87.99639°W (38.447053, -87.996288). It is 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Albion, the county seat.
According to the 2010 census, Bone Gap has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.55 km2), all land.
French trappers knew this area before it was permanently settled. The French referred to this place as "Bon Pas", which translates literally to "good step". Kentuckians modified the name to "Bone Pass", as though it were a "pass" through a mountain range. This was then changed to "Bone Gap", as in the Cumberland Gap. Bonpas Creek, a tributary of the Wabash River, flows southwards about 2 miles (3 km) east of the village, retaining the area's original name.
An alternative story about the origin of Bone Gap's name involves a small band of Piankeshaw Indians who established a village in a gap in the trees a short distance east of present-day Bone Gap. Several years later early American settlers found a pile of bones discarded by the Indians near their encampment-hence the name Bone Gap as given to the white man's village established about the 1830s.
Early settlers in the area included the five Rude brothers who came from West Virginia in 1830. Other families included the Morgans, Knowltons, Philips, Leachs, Gibsons, and Rices. In 1835-36 Ebenezer Gould and Elizabeth Gould went west with their twin sons, Philander and Ansel, and with Daniel Bassett Leach, who later became the Bone Gap Methodist minister. Due to several members of the farming community coming from Northeastern states, they were referred to as "Yankees", and the community was referred to as "Yankeetown".
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