Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Russellville, IL

Russellville is a village in northeastern Lawrence County, Illinois, sitting on the west bank of the Wabash River, which forms the Illinois–Indiana state line.

Russellville's roots go back to about 1809–1810, when Samuel and Jonathan Allison and other Kentucky families settled near an abandoned Native American village known as 'Little Village,' and Samuel Allison built a protective fort there in the spring of 1812.

A congregation organized at Russellville in 1817 became the pioneer church of Lawrence County, building a log house of worship in 1821 and taking the name Little Village Church from the old Native village.

The town site of Russellville was platted in 1835 and named for the Russell brothers — August, Andrew, and Clement — who provided the lumber for the settlement's first buildings.

Russellville was incorporated in 1875, decades after its frontier founding.

Illinois Route 33 runs through the center of Russellville, leading north 14 miles to Palestine and south 10 miles to the Wabash crossing near Vincennes, Indiana.

As of the 2020 census, Russellville had 98 residents in 54 households — far below its peak of 311 people counted back in 1870.

Russellville covers about 0.41 square miles, a small fraction of the 36-square-mile Russell Township that shares its name.