Pembroke Township is one of seventeen

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in Kankakee County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 2,140 and it contained 1,062 housing units. Pembroke Township was formed from parts of Momence township on February 17, 1877. From its beginning through today, Pembroke Township was a site of community for Black farmers.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of , all land.

Cities, towns, villages

* Hopkins Park

Unincorporated towns

* Doney at * Leesville at * Saint Anne Woods at * Tallmadge at (This list is based on USGS data and may include former settlements.)

Adjacent townships

* Momence Township (north) * Lake Township, Newton County, Indiana (northeast) *

McClellan Township, Newton County, Indiana McClellan Township is one of ten townships in Newton County, Indiana Newton County is a county located near the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2020, the population was 13,830. This county is part of Northwest Ind ...

(east) * Beaverville Township, Iroquois County (south) * St. Anne Township (west) * Ganeer Township (northwest)

Cemeteries

The township contains the Guiding Star Memorial Cemetery.

Demographics

Economy

As of November 11, 2009, according to a CBS newspaper article, due to misappropriation of funds, the Federal Government cut funding to the tiny village of Hopkins Park which fired the entire police force. Two of three elementary schools were closed. Currently, the County Sheriff provides very limited patrols. Almost half the working age adults are out of work. Pembroke was once home to a Nestle Corporation factory where more than 100 people worked.

Government

The township is governed by an elected Town Board of a Supervisor and four Trustees. The Township also has an elected Assessor, Clerk, Highway Commissioner and Supervisor. The Township Office is located at 4053 South Main Street, PO Box A, Hopkins Park, IL 60944.

Political districts

* Illinois's 11th congressional district * State House District 79 * State Senate District 40

School districts

*Pembroke Community Consolidated School District #259 * St. Anne Community Consolidated School District 256 * St. Anne Community High School District 302

Black Farming Community

Pembroke is a historically Black farming community, at times one of the largest concentrations of Black farmers north of the Mason-Dixon line. The first Black residents of Pembroke arrived in the 1860s: the Tetter family led by patriarch Joseph ‘Pap’ Tetter came from North Carolina. They settled on 42 acres of land which was either bought or acquired using adverse possession laws and established Hopkins Park. Many sources repeat the story that Hopkins Park/Pembroke was a stop along the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. The Tetters were the first of a long tradition of Black farmers in Pembroke; people who had been forced to farm as slaves and sharecroppers could now cultivate their own small plots of land. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some parts of life in Pembroke were racially segregated, but many Black and white farmers worked together, likely more so than in surrounding parts of Kankakee County. Unlike many surrounding areas with rich soil, the soil in Pembroke is sandy and lower quality. This can present challenges for growing food, but it also allowed many Black families to buy land in an area that became mostly ignored by white farmers. According to the Chicago Field Museum, "soil seen as poor by outsiders is an asset in Pembroke," requiring farmers to be creative and often collaborate. Some local farmers sold agricultural and livestock products for profit locally as well as to Chicago and other midwestern cities. Others were and continue to be homesteaders who grew food for themselves. Large groups of Black farmers came to Pembroke during the Great Migration (from the South) and an even larger group moved to the area during the Great Depression (from Chicago). Pembroke became almost entirely Black by the time WWII ended. According to the Black Oaks Center, a local Black-run farm, “Pembroke was the 3rd largest hemp producer in the nation” during WWII. Although the area struggles with high poverty rates and a decreasing population size, the tradition of Black farmers continues in the area today with places like the Black Oaks Center and Iyabo Farms.

References

*
United States Census Bureau 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles

United States National Atlas

10. Episode of TV show ER Season S9 E18 in the first 5 minutes

External links

Kankankee County Official Site

{{authority control Townships in Kankakee County, Illinois 1877 establishments in Illinois Townships in Illinois