Saline County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Harrisburg
Year Organized: 1847
Square Miles: 383

Court House:

10 East Poplar Street
County Courthouse
Harrisburg, IL 62946-1553

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Saline Creek

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Saline County was created on February 25, 1847 (Private Laws, 1847, p. 34) and was formed from Gallatin County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Gallatin County (1812–1847), Johnson County (1812–1816), Randolph County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for Saline creek, so called on account of numerous salt springs in that locality. The County Seat is Harrisburg . Prior County Seats was Raleigh (1847–1859) amd Harrisburg (1859-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 387 square miles (1,002 km²), of which, 383 square miles (993 km²) of it is land and 4 square miles (10 km²) of it (0.95%) is water.

The Saline County area is mostly rolling hills throughout gradually rising to the Hills of the Shawnee National Forest. To the north of Eldorado there are flat lowlands.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Hamilton County
Northeast: White County
East: Gallatin County
Southeast: Hardin County
South: Pope County
Southwest: Johnson County
West: Williamson County
Northwest: Franklin County

Cities and Towns:

- Brushy	township
- Carrier Mills	village	Incorporated Area
- Cottage	township
- East Eldorado	township
- Eldorado	city	Incorporated Area
- Galatia	village	Incorporated Area
- Harrisburg (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Independence	township
- Long Branch	township
- Mountain	township
- Muddy	village	Incorporated Area
- Raleigh	village	Incorporated Area
- Rector	township
- Stonefort	village	Incorporated Area
- Tate	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."