Union County, Illinois

County: Union

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 37.4500, -89.2500

On January 2, 1818, the Illinois Territorial Assembly formed Union County out of Johnson County. In February 1818, the county selected Jonesboro as the county seat, receiving a donation of twenty acres on which to construct county buildings. In 1819, the Illinois General Assembly carved Alexander County out of unorganized territory temporarily attached to Union County. In 1858, Union County was the scene of one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

"An Act Adding a Part of Pope County to Johnson, and Forming a New County out of Johnson County," 2 January 1818, Laws of Illinois Territory (1818), 15-17; William Henry Perrin, History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1883), 285-86; “An Act Forming the Detached Part of Union County into a Separate County,” 4 March 1819, Laws of Illinois (1819), 113-14.