Boone County, Illinois

Boone County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Belvidere
Year Organized: 1837
Square Miles: 281

Court House:

601 North Main Street
County Courthouse
Belvidere, IL 61008-2600

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Daniel Boone, pioneer hunter, explorer and Indian fighter.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Boone County was created on March 4, 1837 (Laws, 1837, p. 96) and was formed from Winnebago County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Winnebago (1836–1837), LaSalle (1831–1836), Putnam (1825–1831), Fulton (1823–1825), Pike (1821–1823), Clark (1819–1821), Crawford (1816–1819), Edwards (1815–1816), Madison (1812–1815) and St. Clair (1801–1812).

The County was named for Daniel Boone, a pioneer hunter, Indian fighter and pathfinder of the early days. The County Seat is Belvidere (1837-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 282 square miles (730 km²), of which 281 square miles (728 km²) is land and 1 square mile (2 km²) (0.24%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Walworth County, Wis.
East: McHenry County
South: DeKalb County
Southwest: Ogle County
West: Winnebago County
Northwest: Rock County, Wis.

Cities and Towns:

- Belvidere (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Bonus	township
- Boone	township
- Caledonia	village	Incorporated Area
- Capron	village	Incorporated Area
- LeRoy	township
- Poplar Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Spring	township
- Timberlane	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."