Oquawka, Illinois

City: Oquawka

County: Henderson

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.9167, -90.9333

The Sac and Fox people named this village along the Mississippi River "Yellow Banks," which in their language translated to "Oquawkiek." White settlers arrived in the mid to late 1820s, and when the town became organized and platted the name changed to Oquawka. Early on a locale for trading, Oquawka eventually became a shipping and commercial center. Initially, the town was the county seat of Warren County. It has been the seat of Henderson County since it was organized in 1841.

James W. Gordon, “Reminiscences of Yellow Banks,” Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society 21 (1915), 54-55, 58; An Act to Establish the County of Henderson; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Henderson County, ed. by James W. Gordon (Chicago: Munsell, 1911), 2:623.