Iuka, Illinois


Iuka is a village in Marion County, Illinois, United States. The population was 489 at the 2010 census, down from 598 in 2000.

Geography

Iuka is located at .
According to the 2010 census, Iuka has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 489 people, 185 households, and 127 families residing in the village. The population density was 619.0 people per square mile. There were 217 housing units at an average density of 223.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 98.6% White, 1.4% African American, 0.2% Asian, and 0.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.8% of the population.
There were 185 households out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.8% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the village, the population was spread out with 33.4% under the age of 19, 5.7% from 20 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males.

Points of interest

There is a limestone outcropping due southeast of Iuka, IL that is one of the purported locations of Burrows Cave. In 1982, Russell E. Burrow claimed to have found numerous archeological artifacts in this cave inscribed in Ancient Egyptian and Greek.Today, Burrows Cave is considered a hoax by most mainstream archeologists. The myth remains active among Iuka residents.
Along U.S. Route 50, 0.5 miles north of the village lies the Halfway Tavern, a replica structure of the original that lies halfway between Vincennes and Saint Louis. It is claimed that Abraham Lincoln stayed at the inn, though there is no proof of his presence at the tavern. It is also believed that a group of Native Americans robbed gold from a passing stagecoach in the early 1800s, and that the gold is buried in a wooded area to the north of the tavern, but cited evidence questions the legitimacy of this claim.
Further east along U.S. Route 50 lies the Hebron school, a wooden one-room schoolhouse that operated between 1908 and 1952.