Edwards County, Illinois

County: Edwards

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 38.4167, -88.0500

Illinois' territorial governing council created Edwards County in 1814. Originally comprising almost half the state, the county was reduced to its current size by 1824. The act creating the county designated Palmyra, a small town on the Wabash River, as the county seat. In 1821, the Edwards County Commissioners' Court removed the county seat to Albion.

"An Act for the Division of Gallatin County," 28 November 1814, Laws and Joint Resolutions Passed by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of Illinois Territory (1814), 7-10; Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: J. L. McDonough, 1883), 80-81, 86.