ADT-Monitored Home Security Service in Mount Vernon, IL

Mount Vernon is a city in and the county chair of Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,600 at the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is the principal city of the Mount Vernon Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes everything of Jefferson and Hamilton counties.

Mt. Vernon was founded in 1817 by Zadok Casey, who was elected to the State Senate in 1822 and was elected lieutenant commissioner in 1833. He served in the U.S. Congress amongst 1833 and 1843. The town was named for George Washington’s plantation, Mount Vernon, which was named for Edward Vernon, a British naval hero.

When the town was founded, there was no road to it. Travelers had to get there by either once the tall ground from the north or crossing the swamps from the south. In the in advance 19th century the Goshen Road crossed Illinois in a northwesterly government from Old Shawneetown, Illinois to the Goshen Settlement, near what is now Edwardsville. This road was the main road in Illinois. When Mt. Vernon was first settled, the Goshen Road made a wide arc across Jefferson County, crossing Casey Creek and the Big Muddy north of Mt. Vernon, avoiding the swamps to the south, but bypassing Mt. Vernon. The road entered the county at its southeast corner. It passed through, or near, what are now Opdyke, East Salem, Idlewood, Dix and Walnut Hill. However, it was apparent to the forward settlers that the town would fail without roads. In 1820–1821, Ben Hood and Carter Wilkey built a bridge exceeding Casey Creek, to the southeast of town. This bridge was near the present bridge upon Illinois Route 142. A road was built from there northwest, over arena that is now impassable, toward the obsolete cemetery at the back the liberal Bethel Cemetery. Deep cuts through the dated cemetery attest to the location of the road. From there the road probably followed campaigner Route 37 into town, somewhere changing from 10th Street on west to 12th Street.