Gibson City by the numbers

A numerical look at Gibson City:

3,284 – Estimated population in 2003.

60936 – Town's ZIP code.

45 million – Bushels of grain moved each year by three grain dealers.

1898 – Year first telephone switchboard was installed.

$250 – Amount city paid to the Chatauqua Association to purchase the pavilion in North Park.

6:30 p.m. 10/15/1898 – The moment President William McKinley stepped onto the rear platform of a railroad car stopped in Gibson City and told the crowd: "My fellow citizens, I have only a moment to express my appreciation of this most hearty and generous welcome. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

25 cents – Cost of admission to the Chatauqua in 1916, to hear the great orator William Jennings Bryan.

260 – Number of employees today at the Alamo plant on south side of town.

7 – Number of weeks the Rev. Billy Sunday preached in town in June and July 1907; a huge tabernacle built specifically for the revival went up at 6th Street and Sangamon Avenue.

$6 – Cost per adult to get into the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-In, now showing "Shrek the Third" and "Spider-Man 3."

11:50 p.m. 10/14/1954 – Time when the Nickel Plate Railroad's Whiskey Pete from Peoria roared through an open switch and derailed, spilling hogs and wheat onto the streets. No injuries; the railroad called it "a million dollar" accident. Took a week to clear the wreckage.

1 – Number of stoplights in town (there are only two in Ford County; the other is in Paxton).

1/1/1930 – When crowds packed the Edna Theatre to watch the first talkie picture show.

350 – Number employed by the city's largest employer, Gibson Area Hospital and Health Services.

106.3 – The frequency for the FM radio station in Gibson City that reports local news and happenings and offers easy listening music.

$335 – Cost of a year's golf pass for a senior citizen at Railside Golf Club.

1.5 tons – Amount of cheese produced daily in 1940 at Gibson City's factory.

1,004 – Number of acres of peas planted by the Stokely Foods canning plant in 1951. Local labor was supplemented with laborers from Jamaica. The company also had about 3,500 acres of sweet corn.

1971 – Year Sheryl Burton reigned as queen of the Gibson City Centennial.

33 – Average number of points Dennis Graff scored as basketball star at Gibson City High in 1972, his senior year. He went on to play for the University of Illinois.

4th – Illinois High School Association finish for the GCMS wrestling team in 2006-07.

3rd – IHSA ranking for the GCMS girls' basketball team in 1992-93.

12 – Number of years the town was home to the Pit Run Park, an American Quarter Horse Association-sanctioned racetrack. Owners Tom and Cindy Tucker established the track in 1983. It was the only AQHA track east of the Mississippi River to operate without pari-mutuel betting.