Perry County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Pinckneyville
Year Organized: 1827
Square Miles: 441

Court House:

1 Public Square
County Courthouse
Pinckneyville, IL 62274-0438

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Commodore Oliver H. Perry, won distinction in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Perry County was created on January 29, 1827 (Laws, 1827, p. 110) and was formed from Jackson and Randolph Counties. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Jackson County (1816–1827), Randolph County (1795–1827) and St. Clair County (1790–1803).

The County was named for Oliver Hazard Perry, a Commodore of the United States Navy, who won distinction as Commander of the fleet in the battle of Lake Erie, in 1813. The County Seat is Pinckneyville (1827-Present)-Not officially approved until June, 1828.

Geography

Perry County is located in Southwestern Illinois. Pinckneyville, at the center of the county, is approximately 70 miles southeast of St. Louis, Missouri and 300 miles southwest of Chicago. The Mississippi River lies about 30 miles west of the County.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Washington County
Northeast: Jefferson County
Southeast: Franklin County
South: Jackson County
West: Randolph County

Cities and Towns:

- Cutler	village	Incorporated Area
- Du Quoin	city	Incorporated Area
- Pinckneyville (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- St. Johns	village	Incorporated Area
- Tamaroa	village	Incorporated Area
- Willisville	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."