Lake County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Waukegan
Year Organized: 1839
Square Miles: 448

Court House:

18 N County Street, Room 1001
County Courthouse
Waukegan, IL 60085-4304

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Lake Michigan

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Lake County was created on March 1, 1839 (Laws, 1839, p. 216) and was formed from McHenry County . Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: McHenry County (1836–1839), Cook County (1831–1836), Putnam County (1825–1831), Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823), Clark County (1819–1821), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1795–1801).

The County was named for after the many small lakes in and around the county. The County Seat is Waukegan. Prior County Seats was Burlington (1839–1841) and Waukegan—Name changed from Little Fort in 1849 (1841–Present).

Lake county formed by act of the legislature approved March 1, 1839, it was enacted that "all that portion of McHenry County east of a range or sectional line not less than three miles nor more than four miles east of the present county seat of McHenry County shall constitute a new county to be called the county of Lake."

June 20, 1839. At a special meeting of the Board of Commissioners of McHenry County it was ordered, "That an election be held in Lake County on the first Monday in August next, in each precinct as now organized in McHenry County, for three commissioners, one commissioners' clerk, one coroner, one probate justice of the peace, one treasurer, one recorder, one school commissioner, two justices of the peace, and two constables in each precinct." It was further ordered, " That the portions of Indian Creek, Abingdon, McHenry and Virginia precincts which lie east and west of the division line between Lake and McHenry counties be attached to the opposite precincts."

June 25, 1839. "Ordered by the court, That the poll books be opened at the August elections to vote for and against a division of the county of McHenry, the line thereof to be the center of the Fox River from north to south, and that the east end be called Lake County."
Instead of the "center of the river", as the dividing line, Lake County took all the east of the section line running north and south three miles east of the river at McHenry; in other words, two-thirds of range 9, east, together with all lying east of the line mentioned.

1885 History of McHenry County, Illinois

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,368 square miles (3,543 km²), of which, 448 square miles (1,159 km²) of it is land and 920 square miles (2,384 km²) of it is water, much of it in Lake Michigan. The total area is 67.28% water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Kenosha County, Wis.
East: Lake Michigan
South: Cook County
West: McHenry County

Cities and Towns:

- Antioch	village	Incorporated Area
- Bannockburn	village	Incorporated Area
- Barrington	village	Incorporated Area
- Barrington Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Beach Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Buffalo Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Deer Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Deerfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Ela	township
- Fox Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Fremont	township
- Grant	township
- Grayslake	village	Incorporated Area
- Green Oaks	village	Incorporated Area
- Gurnee	village	Incorporated Area
- Hainesville	village	Incorporated Area
- Hawthorn Woods	village	Incorporated Area
- Highland Park	city	Incorporated Area
- Highwood	city	Incorporated Area
- Indian Creek	village	Incorporated Area
- Inverness	village	Incorporated Area
- Island Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Kildeer	village	Incorporated Area
- Lake Barrington	village	Incorporated Area
- Lake Bluff	village	Incorporated Area
- Lake Forest	city	Incorporated Area
- Lake Villa	village	Incorporated Area
- Lake Zurich	village	Incorporated Area
- Libertyville	village	Incorporated Area
- Lincolnshire	village	Incorporated Area
- Lindenhurst	village	Incorporated Area
- Long Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Mettawa	village	Incorporated Area
- Moraine	township
- Mundelein	village	Incorporated Area
- North Barrington	village	Incorporated Area
- North Chicago	city	Incorporated Area
- Old Mill Creek	village	Incorporated Area
- Park City	city	Incorporated Area
- Riverwoods	village	Incorporated Area
- Round Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Round Lake Beach	village	Incorporated Area
- Round Lake Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- Round Lake Park	village	Incorporated Area
- Russell	township
- South Barrington	village	Incorporated Area
- Third Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Tower Lakes	village	Incorporated Area
- Vernon Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Volo	village	Incorporated Area
- Wadsworth	village	Incorporated Area
- Wauconda	village	Incorporated Area
- Waukegan (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- West Deerfield	township
- Winthrop Harbor	village	Incorporated Area
- Zion	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."