Bureau

Formed January 1, 1837 (68^th county)

Bureau County (33,229), Princeton (7,831)

The masonry Art Deco courthouse, on Main Street at Park Street, was built in 1939.  United States Highway 6 is three blocks north of the courthouse.  Royer and Danley provided the building designs.  An earlier courthouse was built in 1860 following the county’s January 1, 1837 formation as the 68^th county.  Princeton has always been the county seat.  The county came out of Putnam County.  The county is named for frontiersman Pierre de Buero.  The county seat is named for Princeton, New Jersey. 

Bureau County government consists of a sheriff and 26 Commissioners.  Thirteen Circuit Court Judges serve Bureau, Grundy, and LaSalle counties.  The county is in north central Illinois.  Rockford, Illinois is north and Peoria, Illinois is south of the county.  The Illinois River forms its southeast border.  The county center is in Princeton 2 miles North-Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lee, La Salle, Putnam, Marshall, Stark, Henry, and Whiteside counties. 

The area of the county is 869 square miles.  It is 8 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 45 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 38.2 persons per square mile making it 64 out of 102 in the state.  Bureau County has 75.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 80 crosses the county east to west from La Salle County to Henry County.  United States Highway 6 parallels Interstate Highway 80 from La Salle to Henry counties.  United States Highway 34 enters from the northeast, La Salle County, and exits to the southwest, Henry County.  The county shape is a capital letter T with a very short middle leg.  Princeton is slightly south of the center of the county.  Princeton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 23.6% of the county population.  This county is in the Ottawa-Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.