Marion Illinois IL Warrant Search

Marion, Illinois The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois located in the Southern Illinois region of the state. Marion serves the rural area as one of the region's largest retail trade centers. Neighboring Carbondale also serves Southern Illinois as one of the region's largest retail trade centers. Originally platted in 1839 to become the county seat of the newly created Williamson County, it was named after American Revolutionary War hero General Francis 'Swamp Fox' Marion.Today it has 17,388 residents, according to a special census conducted in 2008, a stark comparison to the population of 10,000 that the city held for nearly a century before Bob Butler became mayor. The city's longtime municipal leader, Mayor Robert L. 'Bob' Butler has borrowed Boston, Massachusetts's nickname, stating the city is 'Marion: Hub of the Universe.' The city is split up between the West Marion and East Marion townships, and is a member of both the center of the Marion-Herrin Micropolitan Area and the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area with 123,272 residents. The city is also part of the Metro Lakeland area.It sits at the edge of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge with the Shawnee National Forest just a few miles away.Southwest of the city is the United States Penitentiary, Marion, the federal government's replacement for Alcatraz Island prison. Historic tornado On May 29, 1982, one of the larger tornadoes in Illinois history, an F-4 (max. wind speeds 207-260 mph), hit the city of Marion, Illinois and Williamson County. Ten people died and 200 people were injured after this tornado ripped across a 17-mile (27 km) stretch. The Shawnee Village apartment complex was destroyed, and the Marion Ford-Mercury dealership sustained heavy damage. This tornado caused between $85 million and $100 million in damages. A memorial to the ten people who perished that day was later erected on the Tower Square. The Marion Cultural and Civic Center In 2004, the Marion Civic Center was awarded the Frank Lloyd Wright Award - Special Recognition from the American Institute of Architects, Illinois Chapter, at the organization's annual ceremony.The 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) facility, designed by White and Borgognoni Architects, was completed in June 2004. After a 1997 fire destroyed the city's former civic center, the new facility was crafted using parts of the old Orpheum Theater building.The grand opening of the Orpheum Theatre was on January 2, 1922. Built in the southwest corner of the downtown square, she was the flag ship of a chain of vaudeville and moving picture theaters constructed to tap into the wealth generated by agriculture and mining in Southern Illinois. The Orpheum Theatre sat over 900, and was ornately decorated in a mix of Renaissance and Neoclassical styles, complete with gold leaf, elaborate plasterwork, and a multicolored terra-cotta facade.The Orpheum was quite successful until the advent of television. Decreasing profits forced the Orpheum to exclusively be a motion picture theater in the mid-1950s and to close in 1971. The City of Marion purchased the building in 1973 with the intent of constructing a parking lot. The Mayor and the City Council reconsidered their plan when they found that their citizenry was in favor of restoring the old theater for use by the community as a cultural and entertainment center.During the early morning hours, of March 10, 1997, a blaze quickly raced through the Civic Center, and totally gutted the theater, leaving it a smoldering shell after the blaze was put out. The facade of the Orpheum was salvaged, but the remainder of the theater was razed, and in 2000, it was decided that a new Cultural and Civic Center would be built on the site of the old Orpheum and a couple of other demolished neighboring structures. Commerce and industry Marion is located at the intersection of Interstate 57 and State Route 13 in southern Illinois.From quaint antique stores to a regional shopping mall, residents and visitors will find a wide variety of retail products and services from which to choose.Marion's location, at the crossroads of Rt. 13 and Interstate 57 make it a prime candidate for future growth. One of the largest Wal-Mart Supercenter Stores in the country opened on September 20, 2006. It measures a staggering 206,000 sq ft (19,100 m2) in area, with 36 separate departments and over 500 employees. An equally large Menards store opened on The Hill in November, 2006, adding to further development of Marion's newest commercial district. Other restaurants, such as McAlister's Deli, Thai-D Classic , Sao Asian Bistro, and 17th Street Bar And Grill are also located here, as well as banks, hotels and stores.Marion is home to a U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs hospital and a federal high-security prison.The newest attraction to open is a Rent One Park, which opened in May 2007, home to the Frontier League's Southern Illinois Miners.Popular local restaurants in Marion include Walt's, Bennie's, 17th Street Bar and Grill (The only 3-time World Champion in BBQ), La Fiesta and Tequilas, Honeybakers, among many others. Easy access to I-57 has made Marion a market of choice for several popular chain restaurants like Applebee's, Red Lobster and Cracker Barrel. Tourism & Recreation Tourism promotion and marketing in Marion is conducted at the county level with a county bed tax of five percent. Forty percent of that amount goes to the Williamson County Tourism Bureau and the remaining 60 percent to the Williamson County Events Commission for debt service on the bonds used to build the Williamson County Pavilion, a multi-use meeting and convention center immediately north of the Illinois Centre Mall in Marion. That building also houses the tourism bureau.Over the last decade Marion lodging operators generated on average 97.4 percent of the lodging revenue for the county. Tourists dropped $9.1 million in Marion for overnight stays in 2000. That figure has grown steadily to $15.4 million in short-term rentals in 2009. (Long-term rentals of more than 30 days are not taxed, nor included in these figures). Currently, there are 14 hotels and motels inside the city limits as of July 2010. Since 2000, one hotel has closed - the original Holiday Inn closed in January 2004 having last operated as the Executive Inn - and two new hotels opened, Fairfield Inn in August 2004, and Country Inn & Suites in December 2008. Those two and five other hotels together generate nearly 80 percent of the business in the city. The five are Comfort Suites, Drury Inn, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express (originally Budgetel Inn), and Quality Inn (formerly Comfort Inn).Overall there are 1050 rooms inside the city limits. In addition, there are two additional motels and three small specialty lodging facilities outside the city limits but within the Marion zip code.As of the summer of 2010, a new bed and breakfast has been announced in the historic Queen Anne-style Aikman mansion at the corner of Main and Russell Streets. Prior to the current recession, a new Holiday Inn Express had been planned and semi-announced for The Hill, according to the site map on the developer's website. The current status of that project is not publicly known.Besides the announced Millennium Development, other tourism projects in the works include a new visitors center currently in the planning stages that would be located next to the Marion Chamber of Commerce near the Main Street (Exit 53) interchange just off of Interstate 57.Marion's first motel was the World War II era Motel Marion on the western edge of the city limits on what was then Illinois Route 13, now Old Route 13 or West Main Street. Later it was joined by the Courts Motel on South Court Street (since torn down for an auto parts store), and the Uptown Motel just off the public square (also torn down and now a parking lot and part of the new Marion Civic and Cultural Center). For a while after World War II, Marion's major hotel was the Hotel State in the former five-story Marion State & Savings Bank building on the west side of the square. That building still stands and is being renovated for offices and residences. An earlier three story hotel, the Williams Hotel on North Market Street is also undergoing restoration as of the summer of 2010.Marion's modern history as a tourism center began with the development of Interstate 57 in the 1960s and the creation of three hotels and one motel in short order. They were the Egyptian Sands Motor Lodge (later a Travelodge and finally the Heritage Motel before finally closing) located next to the city's first strip shopping center Westmore Plaza (now the Marion Centre), the Ramada Inn (now the Days Inn), and the Holiday Inn (later a Travelodge and the Executive Inn before finally closing). The fourth facility, the 20-unit Gray Plaza Motel, remains open and still operating under the same name.The Regal 8 (now the Motel 6), Best Inns (now America's Best Inn) and Super 8 were the next three motels to locate in the city in the late 1970s and early 1980s. All were along Route 13 on the west side of Exit 54. Next came Shoney's Inn (now the Econo Lodge) on the east side. Around the same time as the announcement of the Illinois Centre Mall and the city's first use of tax increment financing districts, Drury Inn built a large modern facility on the north side of Route 13. A few years and another TIF district later, developers built the Hampton Inn immediately west of the Drury. A local developer, Henry Mitchell built the first of three hotels on the west side of Exit 53, around the same time as the mall development, starting with a Comfort Inn (now the Quality Inn), then a Budgetel (now the Holiday Inn Express) and finally a Comfort Suites.Camping facilities in the city include the Motel Marion and the new Marion Campground & RV Park, both located off of Exit 53 on the east side of the interstate.Major attractions that fill Marion hotels include Southern Illinois Miners' games at Rent One Park, events at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, the two dozen wineries within a 45-mile radius of the city including those on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and the Southern Illinois Wine Trail, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge adjacent to the city, Lake of Egypt immediately to the south and the Shawnee National Forest and various state parks that stretch along the Shawnee Hills from river to river. Geography Marion is located at 37°43′49″N 88°55′49″W / 37.73028°N 88.93028°W / 37.73028; -88.93028 (37.730363, -88.930237).According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.5 square miles (35.0 km²), of which, 12.8 square miles (33.2 km²) of it is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km²) of it (5.18%) is water. Demographics At the 2000 census, there were 16,035 people, 6,902 households and 4,341 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,250.2 per square mile (482.6/km²). There were 7,555 housing units at an average density of 589.0/sq mi (227.4/km²). The population of Marion continues to grow rapidly. A special census done in 2006 shows the city population rising by more than 900 new citizens, bringing the total population to 17,011.There were 6,902 households of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.1% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25, and the average family size was 2.86.Age distribution was 22.8% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 87.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.The median household income was $30,364, and the median family income was $39,275. Males had a median income of $31,520 versus $22,609 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,073. About 11.2% of families and 14.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.9% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over. Notable people Cory Bailey, Major League Baseball player in the Minors, Majors, and in China. Robert L. Butler, mayor of Marion, Illinois since 1963. Ray Fosse, Major League Baseball player. Transportation Williamson County Regional Airport serves the city.