Princeton, Illinois

City: Princeton

County: Bureau

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 41.3667, -89.4500

Princeton was surveyed and platted in 1832. It received its name by drawing names out of a hat. When the Illinois General Assembly created Bureau County out of Putnam County in 1837, commissioners chosen for the purpose of selecting a county seat chose Princeton. In 1838, voters incorporated Princeton as a village. The General Assembly chartered Princeton as a town in 1849. Revision of the charter in 1857 give the town most of the powers of a city.

H. C. Bradsby, ed., History of Bureau County, Illinois (Chicago: World, 1885), 267-68; "An Act to Extend the Corporate Powers of the Town of Princeton, in the County of Bureau," 8 February 1849, Private Laws of Illinois (1849), 120-23; George B. Harrington, Past and Present of Bureau County, Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1906), 103-4.