word "city," in 1843. By 1847 the town had a general store, sawmill, ferry, 44 households and a population of 225. The population continued to grow through the 1850s and 1860s, a fact demonstrated by the increasing number of churches in those decades and the building of a railroad in 1871. Industry followed the railroad and Oregon became home to an oatmeal mill, furniture factory, chair factory, flour mill and a foundry, Paragon Foundry, which operated until the 1960s. The city of Oregon was first organized under an act of the Illinois General Assembly which was approved on April 1, 1869. By the 1870s the town of Oregon and nearby area was home to around 2,000 people. James Gale was elected the city's first mayor on March 21, 1870 and four other men, Christian Lehman, W.W. Bennett, George M. Dwight and George P. Jacobs, were chosen as aldermen. On March 29, 1873 the city was reorganized because of an act of the Illinois legislature which allowed the municipalities to incorporate as cities and villages. In 1920, the Oregon City Hall was constructed on the perimeter of the city's commercial district and it has been the center of city government ever since. The Ogle County Courthouse was built in 1891 on the corner of Washington Street and Fourth Street (Illinois Route 64 and Illinois Route 2). Between 1908 and 1911, on a site just north of the city, sculptor Lorado Taft erected a 50-foot tall statue he had designed and originally named The Eternal Indian. Located on a bluff overlooking the Rock River valley, the sculpture is now known as the Black Hawk Statue, named after Black Hawk, a chief of the Sauk Indian tribe that once inhabited the area. The city of Oregon annexed nearby Daysville, Illinois, in 1993. Geography According to the 2010 census, Oregon has a total area of , of which (or 96.65%) is land and (or 3.35%) is water. Demographics As of the census of 2010, there were 3,721 citizens, 1,630 households, and 941 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,789 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.9% White, .9% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 1.2% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.2% of the