Kankakee County Fact Sheet

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Kankakee County Fact Sheet

Addresses for County Courthouse and IRAD:

Kankakee County Administration Building 189 East Court Street Kankakee, IL 60901
Telephone:	County Clerk Circuit Clerk Recorder	(815) 937-2990 (815) 937-2905 (815) 937-2980
Illinois Regional Archives Depository Illinois State University 2016 Warehouse Road Campus Box 1520 Normal, IL 61790-1520
Telephone: (309) 452-6027

Established:		February 11, 1853 (Laws, 1853, p. 159)

Origin of the name of the county:
	An Indian name given to a river rising in northern Indiana and flowing 225 miles southwest to join the Des Plaines River and form the Illinois River in northeast Illinois. The name of the river was transferred to the county.

Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in:
	1836–1853	Will
	1833–1853	Iroquois
	1826–1835	Vermilion
	1823–1825	Edgar
	1823–1825	Fulton
	1819–1823	Clark
	1816–1819	Crawford
	1815–1816	Edwards
	1812–1815	Madison
	1801–1812	St. Clair
	1790–1801	Knox, Northwest Territory

County Seat:
	1853–	Kankakee—Name changed from Kankakee Depot in 1855.

History of county governing board:
	1853–	County Board of Supervisors

Township Government
	Adopted:	May 9, 1853

Township Names:
	Aroma
	Bourbonnais	Formerly a township of Will County until Kankakee County was created.
	Essex	Attached from Vermilion county (Private Laws, 1855) and organized as town of Essex by County Board on August 1, 1855.
	Ganeer	Formed from Momence on February 15, 1859.
	Kankakee	Formed from Bourbonnais on March 12, 1855.
	Limestone
	Manteno	Formed from Rockville on March 12, 1855.
	Momence	Formerly a township of Will County until Kankakee County was created.
	Norton	Formed from Essex on March 11, 1857.
	Otto	Formed as Carthage from Limestone on December 11, 1855; name changed to Otto on March 11, 1857.
	Pembroke	Formed from Momence on February 17, 1877.
	Pilot	Formed from Salina on March 11, 1857.
	Rockville	Formerly a township of Will County until Kankakee County was created.
	St. Anne	Formed from Aroma on March 11, 1857.
	Salina	Formed from Limestone on April 7, 1854.
	Sumner	Formed as Union from Yellow Head on October 8, 1855; name changed to Sumner on June 27, 1856.
	Yellow Head

Township Map

Click on thumbnail to view a map of Kankakee County and its civil and congressional townships.

Databases Pertinent to Kankakee County

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Springfield, IL 62756

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