Putnam County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Hennepin
Year Organized: 1825
Square Miles: 160

Court House:

P.O. Box 236 120 N. 4th Street
County Courthouse
Hennepin, IL 61327-0013

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Gen. Israel Putnam, revolutionary soldier.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Putnam County was created on January 13, 1825 (Laws, 1825, p. 94) and was formed from unorganized land (Fulton County). County organization was completed in 1831 (Laws, 1831, p. 54). Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Fulton County (1823–1825), Pike County (1821–1823), Sangamon County (1821–1825), Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1812–1821), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for Israel Putnam, who was a hero in the French and Indian War and a general in the American Revolutionary War. The County Seat is Hennepin (1831-Present).

The History of Bureau County (Taken From the Earliest Historical Facts of Marshall-Putnam Counties, Also Bureau and Stark Counties,

Compiled and Published by Mr. Henry A. Ford, 1860)
Chapter II: The History of Illinois 1690-1825 and Chapter V: The Black Hawk War
Chapter I: European Discovery in the West

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 172 square miles (446 km²), making it the smallest county in Illinois. 160 square miles (414 km²) of the county is land and 12 square miles (32 km²) of it (7.23%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: La Salle County
Southwest: Marshall County
Northwest: Bureau County

Cities and Towns:

- Granville	village	Incorporated Area
- Hennepin (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area
- Magnolia	village	Incorporated Area
- Mark	village	Incorporated Area
- McNabb	village	Incorporated Area
- Senachwine	township
- Standard	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."