Grayville

• Name — Grayville • Type — City • Seal Type — Logo • Image Map — File:Edwards County Illinois Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Grayville Highlighted.svg • Map Caption — Location of Grayville in Edwards County, Illinois. • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — United States • Subdivision Type1 — State • Subdivision Name1 — Illinois • Subdivision Type2 — County • Subdivision Name2 — Edwards, White • Subdivision Type3 — Township • Established Title — Founded • Leader Title — Mayor • Unit Pref — Imperial • Area Total Km2 — 5.62 • Area Total Sq Mi — 2.17 • Area Land Km2 — 5.51 • Area Land Sq Mi — 2.13 • Area Water Km2 — 0.11 • Area Water Sq Mi — 0.04 • Population As Of — 2020 • Population Total — 1550 • Population Density Km2 — 281.34 • Population Density Sq Mi — 728.73 • Time Zone — CST • Utc Offset — -6 • Time Zone Dst — CDT • Utc Offset Dst — -5 • Elevation Ft — 423 • Postal Code Type — ZIP code • Postal Code — 62844 • Area Code — 618 • Custom Label Sec1 — FIPS code • Custom Data Sec1 — 17-31165 • Custom Label1 Sec1 — GNIS ID • Custom Data1 Sec1 — 2394970 • Website — https: grayville-il.gov/ Grayville is a city in Edwards and White counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 1,550, down from 1,666 at the 2010 census. Grayville is the birthplace of naval hero James Meredith Helm.

Grayville was founded in about 1810 by the head of the Gray family, James Gray. The city became popular for its oil. Many people came to drill for oil. In the 1950s the population began to drop. Unlike other Illinois oil towns, Grayville still tends to thrive.

According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Grayville has a total area of 2.17 sqmi, of which 2.13 sqmi (or 98.02%) is land and 0.04 sqmi (or 1.98%) is water.

Precipitation ranges from to. Snowfall reaches its peak in December with.

Grayville had been at the northern end of a four-mile-long oxbow bend of the main channel of the Wabash River. The river changed course after a flood in 1985, with the result being that the town is now two miles from the new river channel. Bonpas Creek trickles through a portion of the former river channel, creating continued access to water for canoes, rafts, and extremely shallow-draft small boats.

As of the 2020 census, Grayville had a population of 1,550. The median age was 46.4 years. 19.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 23.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.0 males age 18 and over. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas. There were 683 households in Grayville, of which 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 42.2% were married-couple households, 22.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 400 families residing in the city. The population density was 714.29 PD/sqmi. There were 808 housing units at an average density of 372.35 /sqmi, of which 15.5% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 12.2%. Racial composition as of the 2020 census • Race — Number — Percent • White — 1,464 — 94.5% • Black or African American — 5 — 0.3% • American Indian and Alaska Native — 1 — 0.1% • Asian — 11 — 0.7% • Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander — 2 — 0.1% • Some other race — 8 — 0.5% • Two or more races — 59 — 3.8% • Hispanic or Latino (of any race) — 25 — 1.6%

The median income for a household in the city was $47,222, and the median income for a family was $58,333. Males had a median income of $41,522 versus $22,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,233. About 14.0% of families and 20.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.5% of those under age 18 and 18.0% of those age 65 or over.

In Grayville, Illinois Route 130 meets Illinois Route 1, and Route 1 meets Interstate 64. Grayville was built on the Wabash River. While it is no longer on any major rail line, it was home to a large rail bridge across the Wabash into Indiana, but sections of that bridge collapsed in January 2005 due to a major flood of the Wabash River. In late 2005, an ethanol plant was proposed for the Grayville area, and the construction of the plant would have included rebuilding the bridge and rail lines leading to it on both the Indiana and Illinois sides of the river, but as of July 2009, neither the plant nor the bridge have been built. The largest bridge to Indiana south of Lawrenceville, and the only Interstate link between Illinois and Indiana south of Terre Haute, the I-64 river crossing runs parallel to the collapsed rail bridge, about 1000 feet upstream.