Woodford

Formed February 1, 1841 (92^nd county)

Woodford County (38,450), Eureka (5,221)

The Neo-Classical masonry and stone courthouse and clock tower were built in 1898.  It is sited on a square Main, Court, Major, and Center streets.  The location is on United States Highway 24 (Center Street) in the town.  Bell and Kent are the building architects.  The grounds feature military guns.  Metamora has an 1845 previous courthouse.  Woodford County was established on February 1, 1841 as the 92^nd county.  Versailles (1841), Metamora (1843), and Eureka (1894) have all been the county seat.  Tazewell and McLean counties provided the land for this county.  Woodford County was named for Woodford County, Kentucky which was named for Revolutionary War hero General William Woodford.  Eureka comes from the Greek for “I found it.” 

Woodford County government consists of a sheriff and 15 Commissioners.  Eighteen Circuit Court Judges serve Woodford, Ford, Livingston, Logan, and McLean counties.  The county is in north central Illinois directly northeast of Peoria, Illinois and southeast of Chicago, Illinois.  The county center is 6.4 miles Northeast of Eureka nearer Roanoke.  The county is surrounded clockwise by La Salle, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell, Peoria, and Marshall counties. 

The area of the county is 527 square miles.  It is 49 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 34 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 73.0 persons per square mile making it 33 out of 102 in the state.  Woodford County has 60.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 39 goes north to south from Marshall County to McLean County.  Interstate Highway 74 comes in from McLean County, south, to Tazewell County, west.  United States Highway 51 is connected with Interstate Highway 39 from Marshall to McLean counties.  United States Highway 150 parallels Interstate Highway 74 from McLean County to Tazewell County.  The county is small letter r lying on its face.  Eureka is located in the southwest corner.  Eureka is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 13.6% of the county population.  This county is in the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area.