Massac

Formed February 8, 1843 (96^th county)

Massac County (14,176), Metropolis (5,969)

The 1942 Neo-Classical red brick courthouse is located at Superman Square, where Main and 5^th streets intersect.  United States Highway 45 is one block east of the site.  Samuel Lester Daly provided for the building designs.  A replica of Superman sits beside the structure.  There was an 1856 courthouse also in Metropolis, the only county seat.  Massac County was established on February 8, 1843 out of Johnson and Pope counties as the 96^th county.  The county name comes from the fort which was named for the French Marquis de Massiac.  The county seat name was created by its founders as the ‘city of the west.” 

Massac County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Twenty-one Circuit Court Judges serve Massac, Alexander, Jackson, Johnson, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Union, and Williamson counties.  The county is on the southeast tip of Illinois across the Ohio River from Paducah, Kentucky.  The county center is 7.5 miles North of Metropolis nearer Round Knob.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Pope County and Kentucky and Pulaski and Johnson counties. 

The area of the county is 237 square miles.  It is 96 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 75 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 59.8 persons per square mile making it 41 out of 102 in the state.  Massac County has 49.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 24 goes north to south through the county from Johnson County to Kentucky.  United States Highway 45 parallels Interstate Highway 24 from Johnson County to Kentucky.  The county is shaped like a flat comma lying on its face.  Metropolis is on the southern border, Ohio River.  Metropolis is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 42.1% of the county population.  The county is pronounced MAS-SAK.  The county seat is pronounced ME-TROP-OE-LIS.  This county is in the Paducah Micropolitan Statistical Area.