Madison County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Edwardsville
Year Organized: 1812
Square Miles: 725

Court House:

155 North Main Street
County Courthouse
Edwardsville, IL 62025-1955

Etymology - Origin of County Name

President James Madison, known as the father of the US Constitution. Fought for a strong central government to replace the Articles of Confederation.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Madison County was established on September 14, 1812. It was formed out of Randolph and St. Clair Counties and named for James Madison. At the time of its formation, Madison County included all of the modern State of Illinois north of St. Louis, about three-fourths of the Territory.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,918 km² (740 mi²). 1,878 km² (725 mi²) of it is land and 40 km² (15 mi²) of it (2.07%) is water. Madison County is on the Mississippi River, while the other major body of water is Horseshoe Lake.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Macoupin County
Northeast: Montgomery County
East: Bond County
Southeast: Clinton County
South: St. Clair County
Southwest: St. Louis city, Mo.; St. Louis County, Mo.
West: St. Charles County, Mo.
Northwest: Jersey County

Cities and Towns:

- Alhambra	village	Incorporated Area
- Alton	city	Incorporated Area
- Bethalto	village	Incorporated Area
- Chouteau	township
- Collinsville	city	Incorporated Area
- East Alton	village	Incorporated Area
- Edwardsville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Fort Russell	township
- Foster	township
- Glen Carbon	village	Incorporated Area
- Godfrey	village	Incorporated Area
- Granite City	city	Incorporated Area
- Grantfork	village	Incorporated Area
- Hamel	village	Incorporated Area
- Hartford	village	Incorporated Area
- Helvetia	township
- Highland	city	Incorporated Area
- Jarvis	township
- Leef	township
- Livingston	village	Incorporated Area
- Madison	city	Incorporated Area
- Marine	village	Incorporated Area
- Maryville	village	Incorporated Area
- Moro	township
- Nameoki	township
- New Douglas	village	Incorporated Area
- Newport	township
- Olive	township
- Omphghent	township
- Pin Oak	township
- Pontoon Beach	village	Incorporated Area
- Roxana	village	Incorporated Area
- Saline	township
- South Roxana	village	Incorporated Area
- St. Jacob	village	Incorporated Area
- Troy	city	Incorporated Area
- Venice	city	Incorporated Area
- Wood River	city	Incorporated Area
- Worden	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."