Clinton

Formed December 27, 1824 (33^rd county)

Clinton County (36,906), Carlyle (3,254), Breese (4,642)

A Modern style red/brown brick and masonry courthouse sits on a square at Fairfax, 8^th, Franklin, and 9^th streets.  United States Highway 50 is Franklin Street.  The building was built in 1999 to replace an 1850 structure which had gone through two remodeling.  The facility’s designers are Kuhlmann and Phillips Swager.  Memorials and memorial benches are on the grounds.  The county was founded on December 27, 1824 from Washington, Fayette, and Bond counties as the 33^rd county.  Carlyle has always been the county seat.  The county is named for New York Governor DeWitt Clinton.  De Witt County and its county seat, Clinton, are also named for the governor.  The county seat is named for a settler’s family. 

Clinton County government consists of a sheriff, an attorney, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 15 Board Members (legislative.)  Seventeen Circuit Court Judges serve Clinton, Christian, Clay, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Marion, Montgomery, and Shelby counties and a court clerk serves Clinton County (judicial.)  The county is in south Illinois directly east of Saint Louis, Missouri.  The county center is 4.1 miles West-Southwest of Carlyle nearer Beckemeyer.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Bond, Fayette, Marion, Washington, Saint Clair, and Madison counties. 

The area of the county is 474 square miles.  It is 58 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 38 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 77.9 persons per square mile making it 31 out of 102 in the state.  Clinton County has 66.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 50 crosses the county east to west from Marion County to St. Clair County.  The county is shaped like a bench with a wandering southwest border.  Carlyle is located in near the county’s center.  Breese is in the western third of the county.  Carlyle is the county seat and Breese is the largest city.  Carlyle is 8.8% of the county population while Breese is 12.6% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced CAR-LIEL.  This county is in the Saint Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area.

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