History

A Very Brief History of Boone County, Illinois

Boone County, Illinois, was organized from Winnebago County on March 3, 1836, being named in honor of Kentucky's pioneer, Daniel Boone. However, its present boundaries were not gained until May 4, 1843, when a mile-wide strip was annexed to the western border from Winnebago County.

Boone County is bordered on the north by Wisconsin (Rock and Walworth Counties), on the south by DeKalb County, on the east by McHenry County, and on the west by Winnebago County. In 1850, there were eight townships: Belvidere, Benton (previously Fairfield and then Flora), Boone, Bonus, Caledonia, Leroy (previously Beaver), Manchester and Ohio (later renamed as Spring). Poplar Grove township was eventually created from parts of Boone and Caledonia townships.

Boone County is the smallest of the "northern tier" of counties, having an area of only 290 square miles. Before agriculture was introduced, its surface was chiefly rolling prairie. The earliest settlers came from New York and New England. The County-seat, Belvidere, was platted in 1837.

Source: Taken from The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and Harley Haskin's transcription of the 1850 Federal Census of Boone County, Illinois

It is well established that the settlement of Boone County began in 1835. In that year there were permanent settlers in several of the townships. At that time there was no defined area called Boone County and the townships had numbers but no names.

The townships were very important to the early settlers. They were made up of thirty six sections of land, each section being one mile squarae. As the settlers filed calims to their land, their purchases were described in the deed as a fraction of a numbered section in a certain numbered township. The need for names for the tonwships was obvious.

Law required that there should be ten rural schools in each township. Each township would elect a supervisor, who would also represent the township on the county board (until the early 1970's). Residents of the township would also elect a treasurer, town clerk, constable, justice of the peace, road commissioner, and perhaps others. The township usually built a town hall near the center of the township for a polling place and a site to conduct township business. The basic needs of the settlers were quite well served by the tonwship government.

Boone County, being one of the smallest counties in Illinois, h ad eight townships. It now has nine since 1922 when Poplar Grove was "added".

Source: History of Boone County (1835-1900) - Online book in PDF format.