Jasper County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Newton
Year Organized: 1831
Square Miles: 494

Court House:

100 West Jourdan Street
County Courthouse
Newton, IL 62448-1973

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Jasper County was named for William Jasper, a Sergeant of the Revolution who, during the action in Charleston harbor, replaced the flag shot away at Fort Moultrie, and later was killed at Savannah in 1779

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Jasper County was created on February 15, 1831 (Laws, 1831, p. 51) and was formed from Clay and Crawford Counties. County organization was completed on December 19, 1834. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Crawford County (1816–1831), Clay County (1824–1821), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), Randolph County (1803–1812), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for William Jasper, a Sergeant of the Revolution who, during the action in Charleston harbor, replaced the flag shot away at Fort Moultrie, and later was killed at Savannah in 1779. The County Seat is Newton (1835-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 498 square miles (1,290 km²), of which, 494 square miles (1,280 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (9 km²) of it (0.73%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Clark County
East: Crawford County
South: Richland County
Southwest: Clay County
West: Effingham County
Northwest: Cumberland County

Cities and Towns:

- Crooked Creek	township
- Fox	township
- Grandville	township
- Grove	township
- Hidalgo	village	Incorporated Area
- Hunt City	township
- Newton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- North Muddy	township
- Rose Hill	village	Incorporated Area
- Smallwood	township
- South Muddy	township
- Ste. Marie	village	Incorporated Area
- Wade	township
- Wheeler	village	Incorporated Area
- Willow Hill	village	Incorporated Area
- Yale	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."