Calhoun County, Illinois

County: Calhoun

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 39.1667, -90.6500

The Illinois legislature created Calhoun County in 1825 from part of Pike County. The county commissioners' court chose Coles Grove as the county seat and changed its named to Gilead. In 1847, the courthouse at Gilead was destroyed by fire and the county offices were temporarily removed to Hamburg. Later that year, the county commissioners' court ordered the seat be permanently located at Child's Landing, which they later renamed Hardin.

"An Act Forming the County of Calhoun out of the South Part of Pike County," 10 January 1825, Laws of Illinois (1825), 65-67; George W. Carpenter, Calhoun is My Kingdom: The Sesquicentennial History of Calhoun County, Illinois (Alton, IL: Dan Merkle, 1967), 16, 22-26.