Tazewell

Formed January 1, 1827 (49^th county)

Tazewell County (131,334), Pekin (31,747)

A Classical Revival masonry and concrete building is the Tazewell County courthouse.  It was constructed in 1914 at 4^th, Capitol, Elizabeth and Court streets.  Illinois State Highway 29 is two blocks west of the site.  Deal & Ginzie provided the designs.  There was an 1849 courthouse also in Pekin.  A Judicial Center was built in 2003.  The grounds feature a gun and veteran memorials.  Mackinaw (1827), Pekin (1831), Tremon (1836), and Pekin again (1850) have been the county seat.  The county was created on January 1, 1827 from Peoria County as the 49^th county.  The county is named for Virginia Governor Littleton Tazewell.  The county seat is named for Beijing, China which was spelled Pekin at the time the city was founded. 

The area of the county is 646 square miles.  It is 29 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 16 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 203.3 persons per square mile making it 15 out of 102 in the state.  Tazewell County has 81.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 74 crosses the county east to west from Woodford County to Peoria County.  Interstate Highway 155 originates in the county and travels south into Logan County.  United States Highway 24 comes in from Woodford County, east, and goes into Peoria County, west.  United States Highway 150 parallels Interstate Highway 74 from Woodford to Peoria counties.  The county is shaped like a park bench.  The Illinois River forms its western border.  Pekin is geographically west in the county and actually on the western border and extends into Peoria County.  Pekin is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 24.2% of the county population. 

Tazewell County government consists of a sheriff and 22 Commissioners.  Twenty Circuit Court Judges serve Tazewell, Marshall, Peoria, Putnam, and Stark counties.  Peoria, Illinois is immediately west and Springfield, Illinois is south of the county.  The county center is 6.5 miles East of Pekin nearer Groveland.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Woodford, McLean, Logan, Mason, Fulton, and Peoria counties.  The county seat is pronounced PEE-KIN.  This county is in the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area.