Peoria County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Peoria
Year Organized: 1825
Square Miles: 620

Court House:

324 Main Street
County Courthouse, Room 502
Peoria, IL 61602-1368

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Native American name.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Peoria County was created on January 13, 1825 (Laws, 1825, p. 85) and was formed from unorganized land and Fulton County. Present area), or parts of it), formerly included in: Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823), Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1812–1821) and St. Clair County (1801–1812).

The County was named for the Indian tribe called the Peorias, one of the tribes from the Illinois confederacy. The County Seat is Peoria (1825-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 631 square miles (1,634 km²), of which, 620 square miles (1,605 km²) of it is land and 11 square miles (29 km²) of it (1.80%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Stark County
Northeast: Marshall County
East: Woodford County
Southeast: Tazewell County
Southwest: Fulton County
Northwest: Knox County

Cities and Towns:

- Akron	township
- Bartonville	village	Incorporated Area
- Bellevue	village	Incorporated Area
- Brimfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Chillicothe	city	Incorporated Area
- Dunlap	village	Incorporated Area
- East Peoria	city	Incorporated Area
- Elmwood	city	Incorporated Area
- Glasford	village	Incorporated Area
- Hallock	township
- Hanna City	village	Incorporated Area
- Hollis	township
- Jubilee	township
- Kickapoo	township
- Kingston Mines	village	Incorporated Area
- Limestone	township
- Mapleton	village	Incorporated Area
- Medina	township
- Norwood	village	Incorporated Area
- Peoria (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Peoria City	township
- Peoria Heights	village	Incorporated Area
- Princeville	village	Incorporated Area
- Radnor	township
- Richwoods	township
- Rome	township
- Rosefield	township
- Timber	township
- Trivoli	township
- West Peoria	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."