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Will County
Contact InformationCounty Clerk
Will County Office Building
302 N. Chicago St.
Joliet, IL 60432
815-740-4615
Recorder
Executive Center
58 E. Clinton St., Ste. 100
Joliet, IL 60432
815-740-4637
Circuit Clerk
Will County Courthouse
14 W. Jefferson St.
Joliet, IL 60432
815-727-8592
IRAD Depository
Founders Memorial Library
Rm. 245B
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-1807
Established
- January 12, 1836 (Laws, 1836, p. 262)
Origin of the name of the county
- Named for Conrad Will, a pioneer politician, Territorial Recorder of Jackson County, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818, and member of the General Assemblies of the State from the first to ninth inclusive.
Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in
- 1831–1836 – Cook
- 1833–1836 – Iroquois
- 1826–1836 – Vermilion
- 1825–1827 – Putnam
- 1823–1825 – Edgar
- 1823–1825 – Fulton
- 1819–1823 – Clark
- 1821–1823 – Pike
- 1816–1823 – Crawford
- 1815–1816 – Edwards
- 1812–1815 – Madison
- 1801–1812 – St. Clair
- 1790–1801 – Knox, Northwest Territory
County Seats
- 1836–present – Joliet (Name changed from Juliet on May 24, 1845.)
History of county governing board
- 1836–1850 – County Commissioners’ Court
- 1850–present – County Board of Supervisors
Township Government
- Adopted – November 6, 1849
Township Names
- Channahon
- Crete
- Custer – Formed from Reed and Wilmington (date unknown).
- DuPage
- Florence – Formed from Wilmington (date unknown).
- Frankfort
- Green Garden – Formed from east half of Trenton (date unknown).
- Homer
- Jackson
- Joliet
- Lockport
- Manhattan – Formed from west half of Trenton (date unknown).
- Monee – Name changed from Carcy (date unknown).
- New Lenox – Name changed from Vernon on June 10, 1850.
- Peotone – Formed from east half of Wilton (date unknown).
- Plainfield
- Reed – Name changed from Clinton on June 10, 1850.
- Troy
- Washington – Formed from Crete and Sherburn (date unknown).
- Wesley – Formed from southeast part of Wilmington (date unknown).
- Wheatland
- Will – Formed from Carcy (now Monee) and Sherburn (date unknown).
- Wilmington
- Wilton
Notes
- Bourbonnais, Momence and Rockville were townships established in 1850, but the area therein became part of Kankakee County when it was formed in 1853.
- Sherburn and Trenton were townships established in 1850, but the area therein was absorbed into other townships. See above.
Township Map
Pertinent Databases