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Knox County History
A
Brief History of the County
Knox County was created on June 10, 1830, in the Fifth Judicial
District of the Circuit Court by Judge Richard M. Young when he was
presented the petition by a committee of five men with the proof of
350 residents which was required to form a county. It is
recorded that the first families arrived from Kentucky in
1828. The log village they erected was near and on the
Henderson property of Mr. and Mrs. Allen Freberg and was referred to
as the Gum Settlement or the Henderson Group. There were two
areas known as Henderson; one the Henderson Group and the other
Henderson Town. The post office changed the name of Henderson
Town to Knoxville in 1837.
In the Maquon history
it is noted that William Palmer built a log cabin in 1827. The
first marriage license recorded was 1830. The first birth and
death was recorded in 1878. Knoxville was the first county
seat. There was a long dispute, lasting many years to move the
county seat. The official confirmation from the Illinois
Supreme Court came early in 1872 which moved the seat to
Galesburg.
Knox County was named
for General Henry Knox, Chief of Artillery in the Revolutionary
Army, and later Secretary of War in George Washington's first
cabinet.
The Knox County
Courthouse in Galesburg was erected in 1884-1886, more than a decade
after the removal of the County Seat from Knoxville in 1873. A
comparison of the size of the present Courthouse and the Historic
Old Courthouse in Knoxville is an indication of the rapid growth of
Knox County during that period. From February 3, 1873, the
actual date of the vacating of the Knoxville Courthouse, until
January 11, 1887, when the Board of Supervisors first met in the
present building, the old Opera House in Galesburg served as
temporary quarters.
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Facts on the History of Knox County |
| Established |
January 13, 1825
(Laws, 1825, p. 94) |
Origin of the
name
of the county |
Named for Henry
Knox, a soldier of the Revolution who commanded the storming
party at Stony Point, later a Major General and Washington's
Secretary of War |
| Present area, or
parts of it, formerly included in |
1823-1825
Fulton
1821-1823 Pike
1812-1821 Madison
1801-1812 St. Clair |
| County Seats |
1830-1831
John B. Gum Home, Henderson
1831-1873 Henderson, now Knoxville
1873-0000 Galesburg |
| History of county
governing board |
1830-1849
County Commissioner's Court
1849-1853 County Court
1853-0000 County Board (of
Supervisors) |
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