Rock Island County, Illinois

Rock Island County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Rock Island
Year Organized: 1831
Square Miles: 427

Court House:

1504 Third Avenue
Office of the County Board
Rock Island, IL 61201-8612

Etymology - Origin of County Name

A rock island in the Mississippi River.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Rock Island County was created on February 9, 1831 (Laws, 1831, p. 52) and was formed from Jo Daviess County. County organization was completed in 1833. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Attached to JoDaviess County [Laws, 1831, p. 53] (1831–1833), JoDaviess County (1827–1831), Mercer County (1825–1827), Henry County (1825–1827), Pike County (1821–1825), Fulton County (1823–1825), Madison County (1812–1821) and St. Clair County (1794–1812).

The County was named for rock island of that name in the Mississippi. The County Seat is Rock Island . Prior County Seats was Farnhamsburg—House of John Barrell [temporary designation] (1833–1835), Stephenson—Name changed to Rock Island in 1841 (1835–1841) and Rock Island (1841-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 451 square miles (1,168 km²), of which, 427 square miles (1,105 km²) of it is land and 24 square miles (63 km²) of it (5.41%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Scott County, Iowa; Clinton County, Iowa
Northeast: Whiteside County
Southeast: Henry County
Southwest: Mercer County; Louisa County, Iowa
West: Muscatine County, Iowa

Cities and Towns:

- Andalusia	village	Incorporated Area
- Blackhawk	township
- Bowling	township
- Buffalo Prairie	township
- Canoe Creek	township
- Carbon Cliff	village	Incorporated Area
- Coal Valley	village	Incorporated Area
- Coe	township
- Cordova	village	Incorporated Area
- Drury	township
- East Moline	city	Incorporated Area
- Edgington	township
- Hampton	village	Incorporated Area
- Hillsdale	village	Incorporated Area
- Milan	village	Incorporated Area
- Moline	city	Incorporated Area
- Oak Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Perryton	township
- Port Byron	village	Incorporated Area
- Rapids City	village	Incorporated Area
- Reynolds	village	Incorporated Area
- Rock Island (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Rural	township
- Silvis	city	Incorporated Area
- South Moline	township
- South Rock Island	township
- Zuma	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."