Greenup was platted in 1834, and served as Cumberland County's first county seat from 1843 to 1855.
Geography
Greenup is located southeast of the center of Cumberland County at . The Embarras River is a tributary of the Wabash River which runs past the northwest corner of the village. U.S. Route 40 runs through the village to the south of its center, while Interstate 70 runs through the northern corner of the village with access from Exit 119. Effingham is to the west, while Terre Haute, Indiana, is to the east. According to the 2010 census, Greenup has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,532 people, 692 households, and 393 families residing in the village. The population density was 901.1 people per square mile. There were 753 housing units at an average density of 442.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 98.69% White, 0.07% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.26% of the population. No Pacific Islanders live in Greenup. There were 692 households out of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were married couplesliving together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.2% were non-families. 38.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.81. In the village, the population was spread out with 21.3% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 26.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years old. For every 100 females, there are 81.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.8 males. The median income for a household in the village was $29,375, and the median income for a family was $36,902. Males had a median income of $27,596 versus $19,013 for females. The per capita income for the village was $18,179. About 9.1% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.4% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
Lincoln Bancroft, Illinois state representative and mayor of Greenup.
James A. Peters, PhD, herpetologist, Curator at Smithsonian Institution, authored Dictionary of Herpetology, grew up in Greenup, interred in Greenup Cemetery.
