Putnam

Formed January 1, 1825 (38^th county)

Putnam County (5,638), Hennepin (757), Granville (1,427)

A columned red brick courthouse, located at Court and 4^th streets, was built in 1839, remodeled in 1893, and restored in 2010.  Interstate Highway 180 is five blocks north of the building.  Gorham & Durley provided the designs to this Greek Revival structure.  The oldest active courthouse in Illinois features columns and veteran memorials.  Putnam County was established on January 1, 1825 out of Fulton County as the 38^th county with Hennepin as the only county seat.  Revolutionary War hero Israel Putnam provided the inspiration for the county’s name.  The county seat is named for missionary Father Louis Hennepin. 

Putnam County government consists of a sheriff, an attorney, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 5 Board Members (legislative.)  Twenty Circuit Court Judges serve Putnam, Marshall, Peoria, Stark, and Tazewell counties and a court clerk serves Putnam County (judicial.) The county is in north central Illinois.  Peoria, Illinois is south and Chicago, Illinois is northeast of the county.  The Illinois River forms its northeast border and turns south to cut the county in two.  The county center is 3.5 miles Southeast of Hennepin.  The county is surrounded clockwise by La Salle, Marshall, and Bureau counties. 

The area of the county is 160 square miles.  It is 102 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 94 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 35.2 persons per square mile making it 68 out of 102 in the state.  Putnam County has 60.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 180 is a spur coming from Bureau County, north, and terminating in the county.  The county is shaped like a mug.  Hennepin is north and west in the county.  Granville is in the northeast quarter of the county.  Hennepin is the county seat and Granville is the largest city.  Hennepin is 13.4% of the county population while Granville is 25.3% of the county population.  This county is in the Ottawa-Streator Micropolitan Statistical Area.