Lee County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Dixon
Year Organized: 1839
Square Miles: 725

Court House:

112 E. Second Street

P.O. Box 329
County Courthouse
Dixon, IL 61021-3065

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Richard Henry Lee, orator and statesman of the American Revolution

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Lee County was created on February 27, 1839 (Laws, 1839, p. 170) and was formed from Ogle County . Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Ogle County (1836–1839), [Eastern Part: LaSalle County (1831–1836), Putnam County (1825–1831)], [Western Part: JoDaviess County (1827–1836), Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823)], [Eastern Part: Clark County (1819–1821), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816)], [Western Part: Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1815–1817)], Madison County (1812–1817) and St. Clair County (1801–1812).

The County was named for Richard Henry Lee, an orator and statesman of the Revolutionary period, a member of the Continental Congress, a Representative in Congress and United States Senator from Virginia. The County Seat is Dixon (1839-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 729 square miles (1,889 km²), of which, 725 square miles (1,879 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (10 km²) of it (0.54%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Ogle County
Northeast: DeKalb County
Southeast: La Salle County
Southwest: Bureau County
West: Whiteside County

Cities and Towns:

- Alto	township
- Amboy	city	Incorporated Area
- Ashton	village	Incorporated Area
- China	township
- Compton	village	Incorporated Area
- Dixon (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- East Grove	township
- Franklin Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Grand Detour	township
- Harmon	village	Incorporated Area
- Lee	village	Incorporated Area
- Lee Center	township
- May	township
- Nachusa	township
- Nelson	village	Incorporated Area
- Paw Paw	village	Incorporated Area
- South Dixon	township
- Steward	village	Incorporated Area
- Sublette	village	Incorporated Area
- West Brooklyn	village	Incorporated Area
- Willow Creek	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."