Clark County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Marshall
Year Organized: 1819
Square Miles: 502

Court House:

501 Archer Avenue
County Courthouse
Marshall, IL 62441-1275

Etymology - Origin of County Name

George Rogers Clark, soldier of the American Revolution and captor of Fort Vincennes and Kaskaskia.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Clark County was created on March 23, 1819 (Laws, 1819, p. 166) and was formed from Crawford County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), St. Clair County (1809–1812), Randolph County (1809–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1809). The County was named for George Rogers Clark, a soldier of the Revolution, who, as a Colonel of the Virginia militia, established Colonial control in the Illinois country, by the capture of Kaskaskia and Fort Vincennes.

The County Seat is Marshall. Prior County Seats was Aurora (1818–1823), Darwin—Name changed from McClure’s Bluff (1823–1838) and Marshall (1838–Present).

Clark County is located in Southeastern Illinois. It was originally part of the Northwest territory. The first pioneer settlement was York, on the Wabash (Ouabache) River, before 1816. The present county was formed out of Crawford County in 1819, just a short time after Illinois became a state. At that time, the northern border of Clark County ran all the way to what would become Wisconsin. The County was named for George Rogers Clark, whose fame came mainly from his exploits on the Illinois frontier during the Revolutionary War. The first settlers came from Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. Many were veteran soldiers of the War of 1812. Settlement increased after the construction of the National Road through the county. Clark County's first County Seat was at Aurora, on the Wabash River. The County Seat was moved to Darwin in 1823 when the good citizens of Aurora realized that the River could flood higher than they could build. In 1839, a county-wide election was held to decide on a new County Seat. The contenders were Marshall, and Auburn. The tempers were high as the voting day drew near and the tension grew. In spite of Auburn changing it's name to Clark Center, Marshall won the day and has been the County Seat of Clark County ever since.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 505 square miles (1,308 km²), of which 502 square miles (1,299 km²) is land and 3 square miles (9 km²) (0.67%) is water. Part of the county's eastern border is defined by the Wabash River.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Edgar County
Northeast: Vigo County, Ind.
Southeast: Sullivan County, Ind.
South: Crawford County
Southwest: Jasper County
West: Cumberland County
Northwest: Coles County

Cities and Towns:

- Anderson	township
- Casey	city	Incorporated Area
- Darwin	township
- Dolson	township
- Johnson	township
- Marshall (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Martinsville	city	Incorporated Area
- Melrose	township
- Orange	township
- Parker	township
- Wabash	township
- Westfield	village	Incorporated Area
- York	township

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

Penn Foster High School

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