Marine, IL

Marine is a Madison County village in eastern Illinois, on Illinois Route 143 between Highland and Edwardsville. The 2020 census counted 912 residents. Triad Community Unit School District 2 serves the village, with an elementary school in Marine and district middle and high schools nearby. The Kaskaskia River basin and the farm country of southwestern Illinois surround the village, while Route 143 keeps Highland, Edwardsville, Troy, and St. Jacob in the local orbit.

Permanent settlement in Marine Township began in 1813 and 1814, and the village was laid out in 1834 by George Welsh, James Semple, Jordan Jeffress, and Abram Breath. Marine incorporated in 1867 and reorganized under general law in 1888. Early stores, churches, and schools made it a service point for the prairie around it. That role has lasted, even as the routes changed: Marine is still a compact village where a single elementary school, local businesses, and farm roads meet between the Metro East communities. Route 143 remains its main east-west street.