McHenry County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Woodstock
Year Organized: 1836
Square Miles: 604

Court House:

2200 North Seminary Avenue
County Government Center
Woodstock, IL 60098-2637

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Gen. William McHenry, fought in the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War; served in several early General Assemblies.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

McHenry County was created on January 16, 1836 (Laws, 1836, p. 273) and was formed from Cook County and unorganized (La Salle County). Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Cook County (1831–1836), LaSalle 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 William McHenry, a pioneer of White County, soldier of the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War, Representative in the first, fourth, fifth and ninth General Assemblies, and Senator in the sixth General Assembly. The County Seat is Woodstock . Prior County Seats was McHenry (1837–1843) and Woodstock—Named Centreville until 1844 (1843–Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 611 square miles (1,583 km²), of which, 604 square miles (1,563 km²) of it is land and 8 square miles (20 km²) of it (1.25%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Walworth County, Wis.
Northeast: Kenosha County, Wis.
East: Lake County
Southeast: Cook County
South: Kane County
Southwest: DeKalb County
West: Boone County

Cities and Towns:

- Alden	township
- Algonquin	village	Incorporated Area
- Barrington Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Bull Valley	village	Incorporated Area
- Cary	village	Incorporated Area
- Chemung	township
- Coral	township
- Crystal Lake	city	Incorporated Area
- Dorr	township
- Dunham	township
- Fox River Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Greenwood	village	Incorporated Area
- Hartland	township
- Harvard	city	Incorporated Area
- Hebron	village	Incorporated Area
- Holiday Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Huntley	village	Incorporated Area
- Johnsburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Lake in the Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Lakemoor	village	Incorporated Area
- Lakewood	village	Incorporated Area
- Marengo	city	Incorporated Area
- McCullom Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- McHenry	city	Incorporated Area
- Nunda	township
- Oakwood Hills	village	Incorporated Area
- Port Barrington	village	Incorporated Area
- Prairie Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Richmond	village	Incorporated Area
- Riley	township
- Ringwood	village	Incorporated Area
- Spring Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Trout Valley	village	Incorporated Area
- Union	village	Incorporated Area
- Volo	village	Incorporated Area
- Wonder Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Woodstock (County Seat)	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."