Waukegan, Illinois

City: Waukegan

County: Lake

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 42.3500, -87.8333

In April 1841, Lake County residents voted to move the county seat to the new town of Little Fort. Town organizers established Little Fort in August 1841, and the town became the permanent seat of justice for Lake County. In 1849, the Illinois General Assembly incorporated Little Fort as a town. In 1852, the General Assembly amended the town charter and changed the name to Waukegan.

An Act for the Formation of Lake County; An Act to Relocate the County Seat of Lake County; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Lake County , ed. by Charles A. Partridge (Chicago, IL: Munsell, 1902), 634, 636-37; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1989), 420, 539-40; "An Act to Incorporate the Town of Little Fort, in Lake County," 12 February 1849, Private Laws of Illinois (1849), 134-41; "An Act Amendatory of and Supplementary to an Act Entitled 'An Act to Incorporate the Town of Little Fort, Lake County, Illinois,'" 15 June 1852, Laws of Illinois (1852), 8-10.