Ford County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Paxton
Year Organized: 1859
Square Miles: 486

Court House:

200 West State Street
County Courthouse
Paxton, IL 60957-1179

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The County was named for Thomas Ford, the eighth Governor of the State of Illinois. Ford served Governor of the State of Illinois from December 8, 1842 to December 9, 1846.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Ford County was created on February 17, 1859 (Laws, 1859, p. 29) and was formed from unorganized (Vermilion County). Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Vermilion County (1826–1859), Edgar County (1823–1826), Clark County (1819–1823), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for Thomas Ford, the eighth Governor of the State of Illinois. Ford served Governor of the State of Illinois from December 8, 1842 to December 9, 1846. The County Seat is Paxton (Name changed from Prospect City in September, 1859).

History of Ford 1859 to 1959
1859 -- FORD COUNTY -- 1959

(this information from Centurama Celebrating The First 100 Years of Ford County, Illinois 1859-1959)

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 486 square miles (1,260 km²), of which, 486 square miles (1,258 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.11%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Kankakee County; Iroquois County
Southeast: Vermilion County
South: Champaign County
West: McLean County
Northwest: Livingston County

Cities and Towns:

- Brenton	township
- Button	township
- Cabery	village	Incorporated Area
- Drummer	township
- Elliott	village	Incorporated Area
- Gibson	city	Incorporated Area
- Kempton	village	Incorporated Area
- Lyman	township
- Melvin	village	Incorporated Area
- Mona	township
- Paxton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Peach Orchard	township
- Pella	township
- Piper City	village	Incorporated Area
- Roberts	village	Incorporated Area
- Rogers	township
- Sibley	village	Incorporated Area
- Sullivant	township
- Wall	township

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."