Mahomet is a village in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, along the Sangamon River. The population was 9,434 at the 2020 census. Mahomet is located approximately northwest of Champaign at the junction of Interstate 74 and Illinois Route 47.

Etymology

The town's own published account credits its founder Daniel T. Porter, who had Connecticut roots, as the one who denominated both the new village as Middletown (after Middletown, Connecticut) and the post office as Mahomet (after Mahomet Weyonomon, a Mohegan sachem from Connecticut). With the arrival of the railroad, the town embraced the name of its post office in 1871 because there already was a Middletown, Illinois. However, alternative theories of the origin of the name "Mahomet" also exist. One derives the word from the "Mahomet Lodge", the local Masonic Lodge at the time the town was searching for a new name. Another theory stated that the town's name was arbitrarily assigned when the conflicting names were noted by the US Postal Service. Henry Gannett's book, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, proposes Muhammad as the town's namesake.

History

The village of Mahomet was first settled in 1832 on the banks of the Sangamon River. It was the first community to be established in modern-day Champaign County. The original village name was Middletown, possibly because it is half-way between the towns of Danville and Bloomington.

Demographics

thumb|The Early American Museum at Lake of the Woods forest preserve.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Mahomet had a population of 9,434 and 2,501 families residing in the village. The median age was 36.9 years. 31.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.2 males age 18 and over.

95.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 5.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 3,333 households in Mahomet, of which 45.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 67.0% were married-couple households, 9.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 19.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.26 and the average family size was 2.93.

File:Champaign County Forest Preserve District HQ Mahomet.jpg|"HI Tower" at the Champaign County Forest Preserve District Headquarters in Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve, Mahomet, Illinois.

File:Sangamon River Lake of the Woods Mahomet Illinois.jpg|The Sangamon River as viewed from the covered bridge at Lake of the Woods forest preserve.

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Education

The Mahomet School District has 2,980 students and 183 instructors spread over five schools.

Notable people

  • Melanie Paxson

Points of interest

  • Mabery Gelvin Botanical Garden
  • Hazen Bridge - A registered historical bridge northeast of Mahomet.

References

  • Village of Mahomet Illinois, Web site
  • Mahomet-Seymour Schools web site
  • Mahomet-Seymour Alumni web site