Georgetown was established in 1826 and was platted by James Haworth with the length of a grapevine, although the first home was established in 1820 by Henry Johnson. The town may have been named after George Beckwith, since Danville had been named after Dan Beckwith; another possibility is that it was named after James Haworth's son George. The first post office was established in 1828. The Paris and Danville Railroad was built in 1871, and the "Interurban" started carrying passengers between Georgetown and Danville sometime after 1900.
Geography
Georgetown is located on Illinois Route 1 / U.S. Route 150 about south of the county seat of Danville. According to the 2010 census, Georgetown has a total area of, all land.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,628 people, 1,470 households, and 1,004 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,250.6 people per square mile. There were 1,564 housing units at an average density of 970.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 95.53% White, 2.73% African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 1.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.19% of the population. There were 1,470 households out of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couplesliving together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.00. In the city, the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $33,852, and the median income for a family was $37,310. Males had a median income of $32,974 versus $22,581 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,275. About 8.8% of families and 13.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.6% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
