” Piper City, IL USDA Loan”

Piper City is a village in Ford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 745 at the 2020 census.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Piper City has a total area of 0.56 square miles (1.45 km2), all land.

Piper City was laid out in 1867 by Samuel Cross of New York and William A. Piper (5 March 1820 – 6 July 1896) of Philadelphia. The original plat was named Brenton. It was a station on the Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad, which had been completed ten years earlier. The present name of the town, which was adapted soon after the town was founded, comes from Piper who had extensive land holdings in the area. Cross lived briefly in the township, but little is known of his life. An earlier railroad siding and grain station known as Brenton had been established two miles to the east of the eventual location of the town. The new station was therefore briefly known as New Brenton. The Original Town lay on both sides of the railroad and the streets were aligned with the railroad, which was angled slightly away from true north–south. John Allen and W. C. Jones opened the first store in Piper City the summer of 1867. A second store called Piper, Montelius and Company was operated by J.A. Montelius, Piper’s nephew, but it is unclear if Piper was actually a resident in the new town. The first Post Office was in the home of John R. Lewis, who had been a land agent for the Illinois Central Railroad. A Presbyterian Church was established in 1869, a Catholic church in 1880 and a Methodist church in 1881. In 1870, Montelius established a bank and was, for many years, the leading citizen of Piper City. In 1887, B.W. Kensey began the Piper City Journal. In 1924, when the people of Piper City learned that a new highway, soon to be known as U.S. 24, would pass a quarter mile south of the town, a delegation was sent to the governor to protest. They were unsuccessful. The town has been an important grain shipping point for the rich agricultural land of the pan handle of Ford County.

As of the 2020 census there were 745 people, 398 households, and 253 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,342.34 inhabitants per square mile (518.28/km2). There were 357 housing units at an average density of 643.24 per square mile (248.36/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 86.17% White, 0.13% African American, 0.27% Native American, 0.67% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 5.23% from other races, and 7.52% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.80% of the population.

There were 398 households, out of which 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.66% were married couples living together, 22.86% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.43% were non-families. 31.66% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.06% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.03.