• Telephone:

County Clerk
Recorder
 

(312) 603-5656
(312) 603-5050
 

• Telephone: (312) 603-6601 or  (312) 603-6628

• Telephone: (773) 442-4506

Established:

January 15, 1831 (Laws, 1831, p. 54)

Origin of the name of the county:

Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in:

1825–1831

Putnam

1823–1825

Fulton

1821–1823

Pike

1819–1821

Clark

1816–1819

Crawford

1815–1816

Edwards

1812–1815

Madison

1801–1812

St. Clair

1795–1801

Knox, Northwest Territory

County Seat:

1831–

Chicago

History of county governing board:

1831–1850

County Commissioners’ Court

1850–

County Board of Supervisors

Documented Record Losses

October 9, 1871—Fire

Total record loss (1831–1871).

Township Government

Adopted:

November 6, 1849

Township Names:

Barrington

Berwyn

Bloom

Bremen

Calumet

Formed as Hope on June 2, 1862; name changed on June 17, 1862.

Cicero

Formed on June 4, 1860.

Elk Grove

Evanston

Hanover

Lemont

Name changed from Palmyra in April, 1850.

Leyden

Name changed from Monroe in April, 1850.

Lyons

Maine

New Trier

Niles

Northfield

Norwood Park

Formed on February 3, 1873

Oak Park

Orland

Palatine

Palos

Name changed from Trenton in April, 1850.

Proviso

Name changed from Taylor in April, 1850.

Rich

River Forest

Riverside

Formed on September 24, 1870.

Schaumburg

Stickney

Formed from Lyons on May 3, 1901.

Thornton

Wheeling

Worth

Township Map

Click on thumbnail to view a map of Cook County and its civil and congressional townships.

• Local Governmental Records Database
• Name Index to Illinois Local Governments
• Illinois Statewide Marriage Index
• Illinois Statewide Death Index, 1916–1950
• Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database
• Federal Township Plats of Illinois

• Chicago City Council Proceedings Files Index (1833–1871)

• Cook County Coroner's Inquest Record Index (1872–1911)

• Chicago Police Department Homicide Record (1870–1930)

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