Henry

Formed January 13, 1825 (42^nd county)

Henry County (49,290), Cambridge (2,090), Kewanee (12,500)                

A Victorian red brick and masonry courthouse was built in 1878.  It sits on a square at Center, Main, Court, and West streets.  Illinois State Highway 81 is Court Street.  Thomas J. Tolan and Son and Brentwood S. Tolan are the architects.  The building has been enlarged.  The courthouse features marble floors inside and veteran memorials and protective canons outside. 

Henry County government consists of a sheriff and 20 Commissioners.  Twenty Circuit Court Judges serve Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, and Whiteside counties.  The county is in northwestern Illinois.  Peoria, Illinois is southeast and Davenport, Iowa is west of the county.  The Rock River notches the northwest corner.  The county center is 10.5 miles Northeast of Cambridge nearer Atkinson.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Whiteside, Bureau, Stark, Knox, Mercer, and Rock Island counties.  The county was created out of Fulton County on January 13, 1825 as the 42^nd county.  Richmond (1837), Geneseo (1839), Morristown (1840), and Cambridge (1843) have all been the county seat.  The county is named for American Statesman Patrick Henry.  Cambridge is named for Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

The area of the county is 822 square miles.  It is 15 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 30 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 60.0 persons per square mile making it 40 out of 102 in the state.  Henry County has 70.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 74 enters the county from Rock Island County to the north and exits south into Knox County.  Interstate Highway 80 crosses east to west in the county from Bureau to Rock Island counties.  United States Highway 6 parallels Interstate Highway 80 from Bureau County to Rock Island County.  United States Highway 34 crosses the southeast corner of the county from Bureau County, east, to Knox County, south.  United States Highway 150 parallels Interstate Highway 74 from Rock Island to Knox counties.  The county is a rectangle with the northwest corner cut out.  Cambridge is located in the southwest quarter of the county.  Kewanee is located in the southeast corner of the county.  Cambridge is the county seat and Kewanee is the largest city.  Cambridge is 4.2% of the county population while Kewanee is 25.4% of the county population.  The largest city is pronounced KEE-WA-NEE.  This county is in the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island Metropolitan Statistical Area.