The Little Okaw Valley Conference is a high school conference in central Illinois , in the United States. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association . The conference comprises five small public high schools with enrollments between 80 and 270 students in Coles , Champaign , Douglas , Moultrie , and Piatt counties.
20-620: Also known as the LOVC , the Little Okaw Valley Conference was founded in 1970 with schools from Arthur , Atwood , Bement , Cerro Gordo , Hammond , Homer , Newman , Oakland , and Villa Grove, Illinois . Seven of the eight charter members were small schools from the Okaw Valley Conference and they included: Arthur , Atwood-Hammond, Bement , Cerro Gordo , Newman, Oakland , and Villa Grove High Schools. Additionally,
40-553: A football team for many years. In August 2014, the Atwood Hammond school district consolidated with Arthur Lovington, with the school name being changed to ALAH High School. Blue Ridge High School (Illinois) Blue Ridge High School is a high school in Farmer City , Illinois . It has 228 students, 21 faculty members, and 5 support staff. The school is operated by Blue Ridge Community Unit School District 18 and serves
60-549: A household in the village was $ 62,250, and the median income for a family was $ 79,500. Males had a median income of $ 45,147 versus $ 22,105 for females. The per capita income for the village was $ 29,574. About 8.2% of families and 8.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 12.3% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over. The village of Arthur characterizes itself on its website as an Amish -friendly community, with more than 4,000 " Plain People " living in
80-453: A two division football conference prior to the 2016 season. Those divisions were the Northwest and Southeast . The Northeast included: Arcola, Argenta-Oreana, Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, Cerro Gordo-Bement, Decatur LSA, and Sangamon Valley. The Southeast included: Cumberland, Martinsville, Oblong, Palestine-Hutsonville, Tri-County, and Villa Grove. In 2018, another new member would join
100-640: Is a village in Douglas and Moultrie counties in Illinois , with Arthur's primary street, Vine Street, being the county line. The population was 2,231 at the 2020 census. The Arthur area is home to the largest and oldest Amish community in Illinois, which was founded in the 1860s. In 1877, the population was approximately 300 people. The community was incorporated as a village in April of that year. The first village election
120-512: Is in southwestern Douglas County and northeastern Moultrie County, with Illinois Route 133 passing through the southern part of the village, leading east 9 miles (14 km) to Arcola and west the same distance to Lovington . Tuscola , the Douglas county seat , is 15 miles (24 km) to the northeast, while Sullivan , the Moultrie county seat, is the same distance to the southwest. According to
140-538: The U.S. Census Bureau , Arthur has a total area of 1.34 square miles (3.47 km ), all land. The village is drained to the southeast by tributaries of the Kaskaskia River . As of the 2020 census there were 2,231 people, 951 households, and 612 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,668.66 inhabitants per square mile (644.27/km ). There were 1,036 housing units at an average density of 774.87 per square mile (299.18/km ). The racial makeup of
160-494: The 1980s with the next change occurring in 1994 as Atwood-Hammond and Bement would join forces as the South Piatt Coop during the football season, however, they would compete as individual schools for all other sports. Additionally that same year, Tuscola would join the league from the now defunct Meridian Conference . This, however, gave the league an odd number for all other sports beyond football. Two years later, in 1996,
180-411: The 2006–07 school year. In 2009, Martinsville , joined the league, increasing the number of schools to 13. The conference would remain status quo until 2014 where an expansion would take place as nine schools would leave the Okaw Valley Conference . Argenta-Oreana , Decatur LSA , Hutsonville / Palestine (coop), Oblong , and Toledo Cumberland would join in 2014. This increase in schools created
200-596: The LOVC, Blue Ridge High School . Unfortunately, even before Blue Ridge joined the league, an uprising had begun based on the distance required to travel between schools as well as maintaining a closed football conference. Because of situation, in December 2017, 15 of the conference schools announced their intention to leave the LOVC. These schools were moving to a new conference, the Lincoln Prairie . The only schools not moving to
220-416: The conference expanded with the addition of Broadlands Heritage , Hume Shiloh , Illiopolis Niantic -Harristown and the return of Oakland High School. This would put the league at 12 schools for all sports except football where there were 11 teams. The number of football teams were reduced for the 1997 season when Heritage and Shiloh began a football coop known as East Central. The league would stay nearly
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#1732935301566240-479: The league included a school from the East Central Conference , Homer High School. As the conference moved through the 1970s the number of teams remained the same, however, after the 1980 school year, Homer, Newman and Oakland would leave for the newly formed East Okaw Conference . However, Arcola and Lovington would join that same year. The conference would include only six schools for the remainder of
260-453: The new league were Martinsville, Hutsonville, Palestine and Oblong. The most recent school to join the conference is Bridgeport Red Hill High School . As of 2023, the conference maintains five high schools: Bridgeport Red Hill, Hutsonville, Oblong, Palestine, and Martinsville. None of the current schools are charter members. Sources:IHSA Conferences, and IHSA Member Schools Directory Full Members Arthur, Illinois Arthur
280-405: The number of schools competing in the conference. However, the conference was not done growing and by 2006 the list of schools included 12 teams: Arcola, Arthur, Atwood-Hammond, Bement, Cerro Gordo, Heritage, Hume Shiloh, Lovington, Okaw Valley, Sangamon Valley, Tuscola, and Villa Grove. However, this would be the final year for Tuscola, they would leave for the Okaw Valley Conference at the end of
300-577: The region centered on the village. The Amish settlement near Arthur was founded in 1864 and by 2013 had 30 church districts with about 150 people per district. The Arthur community was the eighth largest Amish settlement in the world, with 4,410 as of 2017. In July 2012, Arthur's longtime school district consolidated with the much smaller school district in nearby Lovington . High school students from both towns attend school in Arthur, while grade schools are maintained in both towns. The two schools have shared
320-464: The same as the 1990s came to a close. As the 2000s began, the league remained stable with very few changes. Bethany and Findlay High Schools consolidated into Okaw Valley and joined the league in 2001, the same year the Meridian Conference would cease to exist. In 2004, the high schools from Niantic-Harristown and Illiopolis consolidated, becoming Sangamon Valley High School . This again reduced
340-546: The village was 92.38% White , 0.22% African American , 0.22% Native American , 0.49% Asian , 2.42% from other races , and 4.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.01% of the population. There were 951 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.89% were married couples living together, 5.89% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.65% were non-families. 32.07% of all households were made up of individuals, and 23.45% had someone living alone who
360-446: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 2.24. The village's age distribution consisted of 20.5% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 30.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males. The median income for
380-480: Was blown off its foundation. There were eight injuries. In 2022, the community council revealed a flag for the village to celebrate its sesquicentennial . The new flag is flown in front of the welcome center and the police department. The new flag was put up upon the start of the Strawberry Festival. On December 31, 2023, the village of Arthur would close a time capsule not set to open until 2073. Arthur
400-917: Was held on June 12, 1877, and C. G. McComb, Matt Hunsaker, W. H. Reeder, H. C. Jones, J. W. Sears, and Nick Thompson were elected trustees, and J. W. Barrum, clerk. The original town was laid out on the farms of M. H. Warren on the Moultrie County side and the Pendleton Murphy farm on the Douglas County side. Early additions to the town included those by Murphy, Reeves, Hunsaker, Gibson, Warren, Reeder, followed by Kensington, Campbell, Boyd, Bennet, Fitzjarrald, and others. On April 7, 1998, an F2 tornado struck 2 miles (3 km) south of Cadwell and moved northeast 4 miles (6 km) to south of Arthur. It lifted near Bourbon . Twenty homes, six barns, and other buildings were either damaged or destroyed. One mobile home
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