Iroquois County, Illinois

County: Iroquois

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.7500, -87.8333

Gurdon S. Hubbard was the first white settler in Iroquois County, building a cabin there in 1821. Established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1833, the county in northeastern Illinois, lies south of Chicago. The Kankakee and Iroquois rivers flow through the county, which in the early nineteenth century was mostly rich prairie land. The battle for the county seat was a particularly protracted contest in Iroquois County. County government conducted business first in the small village of Montgomery and in 1837, the new town of Iroquois became the county seat. But county commissioners never erected government buildings in Iroquois and instead conducted business at Middleport. In 1865, the county seat was moved to Watseka.

Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1939), 570; John M. Peck, A Gazetteer of Illinois in Three Parts (Jacksonville, IL: R. Goudy, 1834), 133; Hiram W. Beckwith, History of Iroquois County (Chicago: H. H. Hill, 1880), 344-45; J. W. Kern, Past and Present of Iroquois County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1907), 677-78; An Act to Establish the County Seat of Iroquois County; An Act to Establish the Seat of Justice of Iroquois County.