Knox County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Galesburg
Year Organized: 1825
Square Miles: 716

Court House:

200 South Cherry Street
County Courthouse
Galesburg, IL 61401-4912

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Gen. Henry Knox, revolutionary hero and President George Washington's Secretary of War.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Knox County was created on January 13, 1825 (Laws, 1825, p. 94) and was formed from unorganized land, Fulton and Henry Counties. County organization was completed on June 10, 1830. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823), Madison County (1812–1821) and St. Clair County (1801–1812).

The County was named for Henry Knox, a soldier of the Revolution who commanded the storming party at Stony Point, later a Major General and Washington’s Secretary of War. The County Seat is Galesburg . Prior County Seats was Home of John B. Gum in Henderson (1830–1831), Henderson—New location, name changed to Knoxville (1831–1873) and Galesburg (1873–Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 720 square miles (1,864 km²), of which, 716 square miles (1,855 km²) of it is land and 3 square miles (9 km²) of it (0.48%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Henry County
Northeast: Stark County
Southeast: Peoria County
South: Fulton County
Southwest: Warren County
Northwest: Mercer County

Cities and Towns:

- Abingdon	city	Incorporated Area
- Altona	village	Incorporated Area
- Cedar	township
- Copley	township
- East Galesburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Galesburg (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Galesburg City	township
- Haw Creek	township
- Henderson	village	Incorporated Area
- Indian Point	township
- Knox	township
- Knoxville	city	Incorporated Area
- Maquon	village	Incorporated Area
- Oneida	city	Incorporated Area
- Ontario	township
- Orange	township
- Persifer	township
- Rio	village	Incorporated Area
- St. Augustine	village	Incorporated Area
- Truro	township
- Victoria	village	Incorporated Area
- Wataga	village	Incorporated Area
- Williamsfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Yates City	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."