Will County Courthouse

Will County Office Building

Addresses for County Clerk and IRAD:

Established:			January 12, 1836 (Laws, 1836, p. 262)
Origin of the name of the county:
	Named for Conrad Will, a pioneer politician, Territorial Recorder of Jackson County, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818, and member of the General Assemblies of the State from the first to ninth inclusive.
Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in:
	1831–1836		Cook
	1833–1836		Iroquois
	1826–1836		Vermilion
	1825–1827		Putnam
	1823–1825		Edgar
	1823–1825		Fulton
	1819–1823		Clark
	1821–1823		Pike
	1816–1823		Crawford
	1815–1816		Edwards
	1812–1815		Madison
	1801–1812		St. Clair
	1790–1801		Knox, Northwest Territory
County Seat:
	1836–	Joliet—Name changed from Juliet on May 24, 1845.
History of county governing board:
	1836–1850	County Commissioners’ Court
	1850–	County Board of Supervisors
Township Government
	Adopted:	November 6, 1849
Township Names:
	Channahon
	Crete
	Custer	Formed from Reed and Wilmington (date unknown).
	DuPage
	Florence	Formed from Wilmington (date unknown).
	Frankfort
	Green Garden	Formed from east half of Trenton (date unknown).
	Homer
	Jackson
	Joliet
	Lockport
	Manhattan	Formed from west half of Trenton (date unknown).
	Monee	Name changed from Carcy (date unknown).
	New Lenox	Name changed from Vernon on June 10, 1850.
	Peotone	Formed from east half of Wilton (date unknown).
	Plainfield
	Reed	Name changed from Clinton on June 10, 1850.
	Troy
	Washington	Formed from Crete and Sherburn (date unknown).
	Wesley	Formed from southeast part of Wilmington (date unknown).
	Wheatland
	Will	Formed from Carcy (now Monee) and Sherburn (date unknown).
	Wilmington
	Wilton
Notes:
	Bourbonnais, Momence and Rockville were townships established in 1850, but the area therein became part of Kankakee County when it was formed in 1853.
	Sherburn and Trenton were townships established in 1850, but the area therein was absorbed into other townships. See above.