Piatt County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Monticello
Year Organized: 1841
Square Miles: 440

Court House:

101 West Washington Street
County Courthouse
Monticello, IL 61856-1672

Etymology - Origin of County Name

James A. Piatt, Sr., settled in that area in 1829.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Piatt County was created on January 27, 1841 (Laws, 1841, p. 71) and was formed from DeWitt and Macon Counties. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: DeWitt County (1839–1841), Macon County (1831–1841), McLean County (1831–1839), Shelby County (1827–1831), Fayette County (1821–1827), 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 (1790–1801).

The County was named for James A. Piatt, Sr., who settled in area of the present county in 1829, coming from Indiana. The County Seat is Monticello (Temporary designation 1841-1842; Permanent designation 1842-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 440 square miles (1,140 km²), of which, 440 square miles (1,140 km²) of it is land and 0 square miles (1 km²) of it (0.07%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Champaign County
Southeast: Douglas County
South: Moultrie County
Southwest: Macon County
Northwest: DeWitt County; McLean County

Cities and Towns:

- Bement	village	Incorporated Area
- Blue Ridge	township
- Cerro Gordo	village	Incorporated Area
- Cisco	village	Incorporated Area
- De Land	village	Incorporated Area
- Goose Creek	township
- Hammond	village	Incorporated Area
- Mansfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Monticello (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Sangamon	township
- Willow Branch	township

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."