Gallatin County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Shawneetown
Year Organized: 1812
Square Miles: 324

Court House:

P.O. Box 550
County Courthouse
Shawneetown, IL 62984-0550

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Albert Gallatin, financier and member of Congress from Pennsylvania.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Gallatin County was created on September 14, 1812 (By Proclamation, Territorial Record of Illinois, p. 26) and was formed from Randolph County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Randolph County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1809).

The County was named for Albert Gallatin, a statesman and financier, Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and Minister to France and England. The County Seat is Shawneetown . Prior County Seats was Shawneetown (1812–1827), Equality (1827–1848) and Shawneetown (1848–Present).

Near the end of the Revolutionary War, grants for land from the King of England were given and Virginia claimed the Illinois Territory. In 1787, Congress formed the Northwest Territory which included Gallatin County. It was divided many times after. April 27,1790, St. Clair along with Gallatin, were among the first counties. After being divided again, Gallatin finally came into its own Sept. 14,1812, appointing Shawneetown as the Seat of Justice. At this time, Gallatin county consisted of 1/4 of the Southern part of the state of Illinois. It still covered quite a bit of land.

Gallatin was named after Albert Gallatin, Secretary of Treasurer under President's Jefferson and Madison.

Early history of Gallatin was more centered on the Salt Licks of the Saline River. Evidence of the use of salt was found in the bones and teeth of prehistoric animals that ate the salt at the Half Moon Lick. The lick is in the shape of a horse shoe and is about 300 ft. at its widest part. Over centuries it's been licked down from animals. Indians made salt at the Half Moon and Lower Lick. The French took over and made salt here also until the English took over in 1763.

When the White man took over, Salt production changed significantly. Even more so when Slavery was sanctioned within the tract of land reserved for the Salt Works by the 1807 Indentured Law.Soon the town Equality began to grow and the 2 towns began to compete for attention as well as the County Seat. This angered people to the point of an election in 1852 where the majority vote was for Shawneetown being the County Seat.

The first known settler was Michael Sprinkle. He built a log cabin at the site of Shawneetown in 1800 and was a blacksmith and a gunsmith. He used his cabin as a tradimg post for the Indians and a distributioning point for settlers in the 4 states.

Alexander Wilson started the 1st ferry around 1802 in Shawneetown. A fort was built for defense against the Indians in 1810. In 1816, John Marshall receved a charter for the 1st Bank in Illinois to be built in Shawneetown. The 1st County Court was held by the Hon. John C. Slocumin in May, 1813. The 1st Newspaper was published by Henry May, 1818. Early settlers of Gallatin before 1815, are as follows: John Buck Michael Sprinkle, William Ellis, Alexander Wilson, John Marshall, Jacob Bargir, John Choisser, Jeptha Hardin, Joseph Logsdon, Robert Peoples, and Ephraim Hubbard.

Famous people that are apart of Gallatin's History are as follows: Marquis de Lafayette, Abraham Lincoln, Stephan A Douglas, Peter Cartwright, John Logan, James Wilson, Michael K. Lawler,and Thomas Posey.

source: History and Families 1812-1988 Gallatin County, Illinois Turner Publishing Co.,Publishers of America's History

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 328 square miles (851 km²), of which, 324 square miles (838 km²) of it is land and 5 square miles (12 km²) of it (1.43%) is water.

The Wabash and Ohio rivers join in the northeastern part of the county. The Saline River is a major drainage in the county, and it feeds into the Ohio River.

Neighboring Counties:

North: White County
Northeast: Posey County, Ind.
Southeast: Union County, Ky.
South: Hardin County
West: Saline County
Northwest: Hamilton County

Cities and Towns:

- Asbury	township
- Bowlesville	township
- Eagle Creek	township
- Elba	township
- Equality	village	Incorporated Area
- Gold Hill	township
- Junction	village	Incorporated Area
- New Haven	village	Incorporated Area
- North Fork	township
- Old Shawneetown	village	Incorporated Area
- Omaha	village	Incorporated Area
- Ridgway	village	Incorporated Area
- Shawnee	township
- Shawneetown (County Seat)	city	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."