Sciota was laid out in September 1867 by William B. Clarke and was called "Clarkesville" in his honor. Another town in Illinois already had been named Clarksville (without the "e"), so when the new town's post office was established on February 7, 1868, it was called "Amicus".[3] This discrepancy between town name and post office name led the residents to change both names to "Sciota", after the township in which the town lies. (Sciota Township was named after the Scioto River in Ohio.)[4] The Illinois General Assembly approved the name change on March 29, 1869.[5]
A Christian church was erected in 1869,[6] a Baptist church in 1871,[7] and a school building in 1872.[8]
In 1878, Sciota was the largest grain market in McDonough County.[9] At that time, the primary crops were corn and oats; now, the village is surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans.
A newspaper, The Sciota Sentinel, was published by H. C. Harl around 1895, but only one issue seems to have survived (October 17, 1895, no. 49).[10]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Sciota has a total area of 0.31 square miles (0.80 km2), all land.[1] It is situated east of the headwaters of an unnamed tributary of Spring Creek, itself a tributary of the East Fork of the La Moine River, part of the Illinois River watershed.
As of the 2010 census,[15] there were 61 people, 26 households, and 12 families residing in the village. The racial makeup of the village was 100.00% White.
Transportation and infrastructure
Sciota is accessible by public roads from the south via McDonough County road East 800th Street (County Highway 13) which intersects with Illinois Route 9 1/2 mile south of the village. East 800th Street is called Buel Street within the village proper and extends north to the county line.
^Illinois General Assembly (1869). Public Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Twenty-sixth General Assembly, Convened January 4, 1869. Springfield, Ill.: Illinois Journal Printing Office, p. 269. Retrieved on January 3, 2010.