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Village of Gridley
McLean County, Illinois
(Transcribed by: Teri Moncelle Colglazier)

Gridley is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,411 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area. Gridley is located on U.S. Route 24 about 7 miles (11 km) east of El Paso. It is also about that distance west of Chenoa. Gridley is about halfway between Interstate 39 and Interstate 55. The village of Gridley founded in 1869 and was named after General Asahel Gridley (or Ashael Gridley), a noted early Republican, land investor, political backer and client of Abraham Lincoln, and a descendant of a Colonel Gridley who served at the Battle of Lexington. Geography Gridley is located at 40 degrees 44' 34" N 88 degrees 52' 50" W According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.0 km), all of it land. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there were 1,411 people, 550 households, and 387 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,215.6 people per square mile (469.6/km). There were 569 housing units at an average density of 490.2/sq mi (189.4/km). The racial makeup of the village was 97.73% White, 0.28% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.14% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.71% of the population. There were 550 households out of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.2% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.6% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.16. In the village the population was spread out with 28.6% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males. The median income for a household in the village was $46,458, and the median income for a family was $51,908. Males had a median income of $36,818 versus $25,625 for females. The per capita income for the village was $19,752. About 5.9% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over. [wikipedia.org] Home of the Gridley Telephone Museum The Gridley Telephone Museum, in Gridley, Illinois, contains an amazing display of memorabilia that reflects the evolution of communication services in rural Illinois. http://www.telephonemuseumofgridley.org (Transcriber Note: I remember having the rural party-line when we moved to Gridley from Lexington in March of 1972. Our code was two longs and one short. Shortly thereafter, around July 1972, we went directly to touch tone phones completely bypassing the "old" rotary dials that areas like Lexington had until the 1980's.)

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