White County, Illinois

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

County Seat: Carmi
Year Organized: 1815
Square Miles: 495

Court House:

P.O. Box 339
County Courthouse
Carmi, IL 62821-0339

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Leonard White, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

White County was created on December 9, 1815 (Territorial Laws, 1815-1816, p. 5) and was formed from Madison County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Gallatin County (1812–1815), Randolph County (1801–1812), St. Clair County (1803–1809) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1809).

The County was named for Leonard White, pioneer of Gallatin County, Major of the Territorial militia, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818, State Senator in the second and third General Assemblies. The County Seat is Carmi (1816-Present).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 502 square miles (1,299 km²), of which, 495 square miles (1,282 km²) of it is land and 7 square miles (18 km²) of it (1.36%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Edwards County; Gibson County, Ind.
Southeast: Posey County, Ind.
South: Gallatin County
Southwest: Saline County
West: Hamilton County
Northwest: Wayne County

Cities and Towns:

- Burnt Prairie	village	Incorporated Area
- Carmi (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Crossville	village	Incorporated Area
- Emma	township
- Enfield	village	Incorporated Area
- Gray	township
- Grayville	city	Incorporated Area
- Heralds Prairie	township
- Maunie	village	Incorporated Area
- Mill Shoals	village	Incorporated Area
- Norris City	village	Incorporated Area
- Phillips	township
- Phillipstown	village	Incorporated Area
- Springerton	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."