Tazewell County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Pekin
Year Organized: 1827
Square Miles: 649

Court House:

11 South Fourth Street

Suite 432
Pekin, IL 61554-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Lyttelton W. Tazewell, US Senator from Virginia.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Tazewell County was created on January 31, 1827 (Laws, 1827, p. 113) and was formed from unorganized land (Peoria County ) and Fayette County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Peoria County (1825–1827), Sangamon County (1821–1825), Bond County (1817–1821), Madison County (1812–1821), St. Clair County (1790–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for Littleton Waller Tazewell, an eminent lawyer, Governor, Representative in Congress, and United States Senator from Virginia. The County Seat is Pekin . Prior County Seats was Mackinaw (1827–1831), Pekin (1831–1836), Tremont (1836–1849) and Pekin (1850-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 658 square miles (1,704 km²), of which, 649 square miles (1,681 km²) of it is land and 9 square miles (23 km²) of it (1.37%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Woodford County
East: McLean County
Southeast: Logan County
Southwest: Mason County
West: Fulton County
Northwest: Peoria County

Cities and Towns:

- Armington	village	Incorporated Area
- Boynton	township
- Cincinnati	township
- Creve Coeur	village	Incorporated Area
- Deer Creek	village	Incorporated Area
- Delavan	city	Incorporated Area
- Dillon	township
- East Peoria	city	Incorporated Area
- Elm Grove	township
- Fondulac	township
- Green Valley	village	Incorporated Area
- Groveland	township
- Hittle	township
- Hopedale	village	Incorporated Area
- Little Mackinaw	township
- Mackinaw	village	Incorporated Area
- Malone	township
- Marquette Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Minier	village	Incorporated Area
- Morton	village	Incorporated Area
- North Pekin	village	Incorporated Area
- Pekin (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Peoria	city	Incorporated Area
- Sand Prairie	township
- South Pekin	village	Incorporated Area
- Spring Bay	village	Incorporated Area
- Tremont	village	Incorporated Area
- Washington	city	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."