Paloma, Illinois is an unincorporated community in Honey Creek Township

Honey Creek Township, Adams County, Illinois

Honey Creek Township is one of twenty-two townships in Adams County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 738.-Geography:...

, Adams County

Adams County, Illinois

Adams County is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 67,103, which is a decrease of 1.7% from 68,277 in 2000...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Its main auxiliary route is U.S. Route 24

U.S. Route 24

U.S. Route 24 is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Missouri, in the west. Today, the highway's eastern terminus is west of Clarkston, Michigan, at an intersection with I-75 and its western terminus is near...

 and is within two miles of Coatsburg

Coatsburg, Illinois

Coatsburg is a village in Adams County, Illinois, United States. The population was 226 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Coatsburg is located at ....

, another rural community. During the early 1900s the village was famous for its pickle production and was often nicknamed "Pickleville" because of the vast pickle farms.

Paloma is part of the Quincy

Quincy, Illinois

Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...

, IL–MO

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 Micropolitan Statistical Area

Quincy micropolitan area

The Quincy Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of one county in western Illinois and one county in northeast Missouri, anchored by the city of Quincy....

.

Geography

Paloma is located at 40°1′22"N 91°11′43"W (40.022778°, -91.195278°}.

According to the United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the ZIP Code Tabulation Area

ZIP Code Tabulation Area

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are statistical entities developed by the United States Census Bureau for tabulating summary statistics from Census 2000. This new entity was developed to overcome the difficulties in precisely defining the land area covered by each ZIP code...

 (ZCTA) 62359 includes and surrounds the community.

Demographics

For the 62359 ZCTA in the 2000 census, which includes Paloma, there were 192 people, 76 households, and 63 families residing in the area.

History

The community was once known as Pickleville. Local producers shipped pickles to Quincy off a rail platform about a mile west of the present Paloma. Daniel Gooding, an early settler, offered to build the railroad a depot and platform if it would move the Pickleville platform to the town he platted on his land. The railroad agreed, Gooding built the depot and a railroad conductor's wife was responsible for changing the name of the community, deciding Pickleville wasn't very fitting. She named it after a small tribe of Indians, the Paloma, a term which is also Spanish for dove.

The community thrived thanks to the railroad. At one point, the town had two gas stations, a general store, bank, lumberyard, an elevator, a bulk plant and busy Saturday nights when farmers came into town to trade for their groceries. Euterpe Hall, named for a Greek muse, was the site of plays and shows in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually moving to nearby Fowler

Fowler, Illinois

Fowler is an unincorporated community in Gilmer Township, Adams County, Illinois, USA, and is located near Quincy. It is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. As far as infrastructure is concerned U.S. Route 24 runs right through the center of town as well as the...

and then closing. U.S. Route 24 came through in 1923-24, signaling the rise of the importance of the automobile and the decline of Paloma.

The Elevator located in the center of the town once served the many pickles produced and still serves the home of local crops. Today even though pickles are no longer grown, the Elevator remains a county landmark.

A sesquicentennial celebration took place August 24–26, 2007, in Paloma, with events tied to the 50th annual Paloma Fiesta.

External links

• History of Paloma, Illinois