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is a village in Union County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,116 at the 2000 census.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.2 km²), all of it land.
Cobden is located near the crest of the Shawnee Hills. It is in "Cobden Col", a valley cut into rock by water near the summit of this ancient mountain range. How could water cut a canyon at the top of a mountain range? About 100,000 years ago, the Illinoisan Glacier covered almost all of Illinois. As it pushed south, the glacier climbed the Shawnee Mountains. The height of the glacier was much greater than that of the mountains. The glacier stopped before it reached the summit. As the glacier melted, a lake formed between the mountains and the glacier. Cobden Col was the outlet of this lake.
Cobden is named after British politician and free-trade advocate Richard Cobden, who visited the town in 1859.
Cobden's claim to fame is their unique mascot, an Appleknocker, or a man with freckles wearing overalls, a flannel shirt, a straw hat, and chewing on a piece of straw. This nickname originated when the high school first began to compete in athletics and did not yet have a mascot, so other schools made up this derogatory term to insult the new school because of their large industry in peach and apple orchards. However, when Cobden High School played for the state basketball championship in 1964, this mascot became the pride of Cobden and southern Illinois, showing the world what a small Southern Illinois town could really do.