Formed January 1, 1816 (9th county)
Pope County (3,768), Golconda (636)
A small red brick building for Pope County was built in 1872 in Federalist style. It sits on a square at Main, Market, Illinois, and Columbus streets. Illinois State Highway 146 is three blocks west of the site. Young and Frick were the designers of the facility. The grounds feature a canon and veteran memorials. The county was taken from Gallatin and Johnson counties on January 1, 1816 as the 9th county with Golconda as the only county seat. Nathanial Pope was Secretary of the Illinois Territory and namesake for this county. The county seat is named after Golkonda, India.
Pope County government consists of a sheriff, an attorney, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive). It has 3 Board Members (legislative.) Twenty-one Circuit Court Judges serve Pope, Alexander, Jackson, Johnson, Massac, Pulaski, Saline, Union, and Williamson counties and a court clerk serves Pope County (judicial.) The county is in the southeast part of the state on the Ohio River border with Kentucky. The county center is 8.2 miles Northwest of Golconda. The county is surrounded clockwise by Saline and Hardin counties and Kentucky and Massac, Johnson, and Williamson counties.
The area of the county is 368 square miles. It is 82 out of 102 in the state. It ranks 101 out of 102 in population in the state. It has a density of 10.2 persons per square mile making it 102 out of 102 in the state. Pope County has 19.5% of its population in its incorporated areas. There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county. The county is shaped like a backward comma. Golconda is located near the geographical center of the county although it is on the eastern border. Golconda is the county seat and the largest city. It is 16.9% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced GOL-KON-DA.
Eddyville
Golconda
