Hamilton County, Illinois

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

County Seat: McLeansboro
Year Organized: 1821
Square Miles: 435

Court House:

100 S. Jackson Street
County Courthouse
Mc Leansboro, IL 62859-1489

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Alexander Hamilton, revolutionary soldier and first Secretary of the Treasury (1789-95).

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Hamilton County was created on February 8, 1821 (Laws, 1821, p. 113) and was formed from White County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: White County (1815–1821), Gallatin County (1812–1815), Randolph County (1801–1812), St. Clair County (1795–1801) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1795).

The County was named for Alexander Hamilton, a soldier, statesman, author and financier, aid on the staff of Washington during the Revolution, a member of the Continental Congress, first Secretary of Treasury (1789–1795), and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army in 1799. The County Seat is McLeansboro (1821-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 436 square miles (1,129 km²), of which, 435 square miles (1,127 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (2 km²) of it (0.15%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Wayne County
East: White County
Southeast: Gallatin County
South: Saline County
Southwest: Franklin County
Northwest: Jefferson County

Cities and Towns:

- Belle Prairie City	town	Incorporated Area
- Broughton	village	Incorporated Area
- Crook	township
- Dahlgren	village	Incorporated Area
- Dale	township
- Flannigan	township
- Knight Prairie	township
- Macedonia	village	Incorporated Area
- Mayberry	township
- McLeansboro (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- South Crouch	township
- South Flannigan	township
- South Twigg	township
- Twigg	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."