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Kankakee County
Contact InformationKankakee County
Administration Bldg.
189 E. Court St.
Kankakee, IL 60901
815-937-2990 – County Clerk
815-937-2980 – Recorder
Circuit Clerk
Kankakee County Courthouse
450 E. Court St.
Kankakee, IL 60901
815-936-5700
IRAD Depository
Illinois State University
2016 Warehouse Rd.
Campus Box 1520
Normal, IL 61790-1520
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 Seats
- 1853–present – Kankakee – Name changed from Kankakee Depot in 1855.
History of county governing board
- 1853–present – 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
Pertinent Databases