Mercer County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Aledo
Year Organized: 1825
Square Miles: 561

Court House:

100 SE 3rd Street
County Courthouse
Aledo, IL 61231-1948

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Gen. Hugh Mercer, killed at the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolution.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Mercer County was created on January 13, 1825 (Laws, 1825, p. 93) and was formed from unorganized land (Pike County). County organization was completed in 1835. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Attached to Warren County [Laws, 1831, p. 68.] (1831–1835), Attached to Peoria County [Laws, 1826, p. 76.] (1826–1831), Attached to Schuyler County [Laws, 1825, p. 95.] (1825–1826), Pike County (1821–1825), Madison County (1812–1821) and St. Clair County (1795–1812).

The County was named for Hugh Mercer, a General of the Revolution, killed at the battle of Princeton. The County Seat is Aledo . Prior County Seats was New Boston—Temporary designation (1835–1837), Millersburg (1837–1847), Keithsburg (1847–1857) and Aledo (1857–Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 569 square miles (1,473 km²), of which, 561 square miles (1,453 km²) of it is land and 8 square miles (20 km²) of it (1.38%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Rock Island County; Henry County
Southeast: Knox County; Warren County
Southwest: Henderson County; Des Moines County, Iowa
West: Louisa County, Iowa

Cities and Towns:

- Abington	township
- Aledo (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Alexis	village	Incorporated Area
- Duncan	township
- Eliza	township
- Greene	township
- Joy	village	Incorporated Area
- Keithsburg	city	Incorporated Area
- Matherville	village	Incorporated Area
- Mercer	township
- New Boston	city	Incorporated Area
- North Henderson	village	Incorporated Area
- Ohio Grove	township
- Preemption	township
- Richland Grove	township
- Rivoli	township
- Seaton	village	Incorporated Area
- Sherrard	village	Incorporated Area
- Suez	township
- Viola	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."