Louisville (670) is the county seat and Flora (2,704) the largest city of Clay County.
Fairfield (2,479) is the county seat of Wayne County. An agricultural experiment field is located near Fairfield.
Albion (1,281), the county seat of Edwards County, was laid out in October, 1818, in the center of the English settle ment which was made under the leadership of George Flower and Morris Birbeck. The settlement was made famous throughout the world through the notes, pamphlets, and letters of the founders and by published reports of foreign travelers who visited the settlement in its early years. These reports stimulated immigration to Illinois from other states and from abroad. The first public library in Illinois was founded at Albion in 1818. The home built by Mr. Flower in 1819 was said to be in its day the finest residence west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Mount Carmel (6,934), the county seat of Wabash County, is the largest city in Illinois located on the Wabash River. A ferry runs between Mount Carmel and the Indiana shore.
Grayville (1,940) is in the northeast corner of White County on the Wabash. Carmi (2,833), the county seat, is near the center of the county.
Growth of Illinois Cities.—In the foregoing chapters no effort has been made to take account of the changes in popula tion of Illinois cities since 1910. From the official figures given in these pages, and a knowledge of local conditions at present, the reader will be able to arrive at correct conclusions con cerning increase of population during recent years in his own locality. The larger cities with good commercial locations have grown in population; many of the smaller cities which have secured industrial plants have made important increases in population.
In 1915 the U.S. Census Bureau made careful estimates of the population of the large cities of the United States. The total estimated population of the 38 cities of Illinois having 10,000 or more inhabitants in 1915 was 3,3S3,407.
The total population of the 112 cities having populations between 2,500 and 10,000 in 1910 was 525,966, or 9 per cent of the population of the state. The total population of the 144 cities having 2,500 or more inhabitants was 3,476,929, or 61 per cent of the population of the state.
A complete list of all villages, cities, and railroad stations includes more than 4,000 names.
In the accompanying tables the 144 cities of Illinois are listed in the order of population in 1910, and 3S are also listed in the order of estimated population in 1915.
Conclusion.—Although Illinois is the leading state in agri culture, there is a notable concentration of the population in cities. The smaller cities serve the commercial needs of the farming communities in which they are located. Others of the smaller and moderate-sized cities are located in coal-mining districts. Other larger cities have profited by the location of large commercial houses and manufacturing plants. Chicago, the metropolis of the state, contains 1.6 times as great a popu lation as the next 143 cities of the state combined. It is Chicago and suburbs that give Illinois the appearance of an urban rather than an agricultural state. Outside the Chicago district the urban population of the state is well developed,