Marshall County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Lacon
Year Organized: 1839
Square Miles: 386

Court House:

PO Box 328
County Courthouse
Lacon, IL 61540-0328

Named: John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. Known for developing the power of the Supreme Court and formulating constitutional law.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Marshall County was created on January 19, 1839 (Laws, 1839, p. 43) and was formed from Putnam and La Salle Counties. Present area), or parts of it), formerly included in: Putnam County (1825–1839), Peoria County (1827–1827), Fulton County (1823–1825), Sangamon County (1821–1823), Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1812–1821), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox), Northwest Territory (1795–1801).

The County was named for John Marshall, a soldier of the Revolution, statesman, author and jurist, Ambassador to France, Representative in Congress from Virginia, Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The County Seat is Lacon (1839-Present).

The History of Bureau County (Taken From the Earliest Historical Facts of Marshall-Putnam Counties, Also Bureau and Stark Counties,

Compiled and Published by Mr. Henry A. Ford, 1860)
Chapter II: The History of Illinois 1690-1825 and Chapter V: The Black Hawk War
Chapter I: European Discovery in the West

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 399 square miles (1,032 km²), of which, 386 square miles (1,000 km²) of it is land and 12 square miles (32 km²) of it (3.12%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Putnam County; La Salle County
Southeast: Woodford County
Southwest: Peoria County
West: Stark County
Northwest: Bureau County

Cities and Towns:

- Bell Plain	township
- Evans	township
- Garfield	township
- Henry	city	Incorporated Area
- Hopewell	village	Incorporated Area
- La Rose	village	Incorporated Area
- Lacon (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Sparland	village	Incorporated Area
- Steuben	township
- Toluca	city	Incorporated Area
- Varna	village	Incorporated Area
- Washburn	village	Incorporated Area
- Wenona	city	Incorporated Area
- Whitefield	township

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

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