Richland County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Olney
Year Organized: 1841
Square Miles: 360

Court House:

103 W. Main
County Courthouse
Olney, IL 62450-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

County in Ohio

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Richland County was created on February 24, 1841 (Laws, 1841, p. 77) and was formed from Clay and Lawrence Counties. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Lawrence County (1821–1841), Clay County (1824–1841), Wayne County (1819–1824), Crawford County (1816–1824), Edwards County (1815–1819), Gallatin County (1812–1815), Madison County (1812–1815), Randolph County (1803–1812), St. Clair County (1801–1809) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1809).

The County was named for Richland County in Ohio through the influence of emigrants from that county. The County Seat is Olney (1841-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 362 square miles (938 km²), of which, 360 square miles (933 km²) of it is land and 2 square miles (5 km²) of it (0.52%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Jasper County
Northeast: Crawford County
East: Lawrence County
Southeast: Wabash County
South: Edwards County
Southwest: Wayne County
West: Clay County

Cities and Towns:

- Bonpas	township
- Calhoun	village	Incorporated Area
- Claremont	village	Incorporated Area
- Decker	township
- German	township
- Noble	village	Incorporated Area
- Olney (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Parkersburg	village	Incorporated Area
- Preston	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."