Livingston

Formed February 27, 1837 (71^st county)

Livingston County (35,816), Pontiac (11,169)

The outstanding Second Empire 1875 courthouse sits on a square at Madison, Mill, Washington, and Main streets.  Illinois State Highway 116 is one block north of the site.  The building’s clock tower was added in 1892.  The building designer is J. C. Cochrane.  A Law and Justice Center has been added in 2011.  The building features a working clock tower and columns.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The city’s downtown has Pontiac model cars on street corners.  Livingston County was created on February 27, 1837 from McLean, La Salle, and Iroquois counties as the 71^st county with Pontiac as the only county seat.  United States Secretary of State, Edward Livingston, provided the name for the county.  Pontiac was the name of an Ottawa Native American chief. 

Livingston County government consists of a sheriff, an attorney, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 18 Board Members (legislative.)  Eighteen Circuit Court Judges serve Livingston, Ford, Logan, McLean, and Woodford counties and a court clerk serves Livingston County (judicial.) Livingston County is in north central Illinois.  Peoria, Illinois is southwest and Chicago, Illinois is northeast of the county.  The Vermilion River flows through the county.  The county center is 4.2 miles East-Southeast of Pontiac.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Grundy, Kankakee, Ford, McLean, Woodford, and La Salle counties. 

The area of the county is 1043 square miles.  It is 4 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 39 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 34.3 persons per square mile making it 70 out of 102 in the state.  Livingston County has 70.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 55 crosses the county northeast to southwest from Grundy County to McLean County.  United States Highway 24 crosses the southeast leg of the county from east to west from Iroquois County to McLean County.  The county’s shape is the number 7 with its leg shortened.  Pontiac is located in the western third of the county.  Pontiac is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 31.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Pontiac Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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