Menard County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Petersburg
Year Organized: 1839
Square Miles: 314

Court House:

PO Box 464
County Courthouse
Petersburg, IL 62675-0456

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Pierre Menard, first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Menard County was created on February 15, 1839 (Laws, 1839, p. 104) and was formed from Sangamon County . Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: County Sangamon County (1821–1839), Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1812–1821) and St. Clair County (1790–1812).

The County was named for Pierre Menard, a pioneer Indian trader, Colonel of the Territorial militia, and first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. The County Seat is Petersburg (1839-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 315 square miles (817 km²), of which, 314 square miles (814 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.36%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Logan County
Southeast: Sangamon County
West: Cass County
Northwest: Mason County

Cities and Towns:

- Athens	city	Incorporated Area
- Greenview	village	Incorporated Area
- Oakford	village	Incorporated Area
- Petersburg (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Tallula	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."