Town of Edwardsville | |
Town | |
Downtown Edwardsville with the Madison County Administration Building in the background
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Country | United States |
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State | Illinois |
County | Madison |
Coordinates | 38°48′14″N 89°57′30″W / 38.80389°N 89.95833°WCoordinates: 38°48′14″N 89°57′30″W / 38.80389°N 89.95833°W |
Area | 20.17 sq mi (52.24 km2) |
- land | 19.56 sq mi (51 km2) |
- water | 0.60 sq mi (2 km2), 2.97% |
Population | 26,600 (2016) |
Density | 1,549.2/sq mi (598.1/km2) |
Mayor | Hal Patton |
Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
- summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
Postal code | 62025, 62026 |
Area code | 618 |
Website: www |
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Edwardsville is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 24,293. It is the county seat of Madison County and is the third oldest city in the State of Illinois. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then Governor of the Illinois Territory.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the Edwardsville Arts Center, the Edwardsville Journal, the Madison County Record, and the Edwardsville Intelligencer are located here. Edwardsville High School and Metro-East Lutheran High School serve students in the area.
Edwardsville is a part of Southern Illinois, the Metro East region, and Greater St. Louis. It is part of the Edwardsville School District, which also includes the villages of Glen Carbon, Hamel, and Moro, as well as the townships areas around them.
A 2010 issue of Family Circle magazine named Edwardsville third of their "Top 10 Best Towns for Families."
Edwardsville was originally incorporated in 1818, making it the third oldest city in Illinois. It marked the first movement of European-American settlers up onto the Illinois tallgrass prairie and out of the American Bottom below the river bluffs. The first European-American settler was Thomas Kirkpatrick, who came in 1805, laid out a community, and served as the Justice of the Peace. He named the community after his friend Ninian Edwards, then territorial governor of Illinois. (Illinois did not become a state until 1818.) The Edwards Trace, a key trail in the settlement of Central Illinois, used Edwardsville as a northward launching point.