Place Information
|
Kankakee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2000, the population was 103,833. Its county seat is Kankakee, Illinois. The Kankakee-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Kankakee County. The county is also part of the larger Chicago–Naperville–Michigan City, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area.
History
Settlers came to Kankakee County in 1834, after the federal government signed the Treaty of Camp Tippecanoe in 1832. As word spread about the government acquiring the land, many immigrants of New York and Vermont moved their way west, mostly locating in Momence, Illinois. An act of the Illinois Legislature created Kankakee County out of the north part of Iroquois County and the south part of Will County on February 11, 1853. The six original townships were: Yellowhead, Rockville, Bourbonnais, Momence, Aroma Park, and Limestone. The population of the new county was about 8,000. It wasn’t until 1855 that the two western townships of Norton and Essex were taken from Vermilion County and added to Kankakee County. The County was named for the Kankakee River. See the The French-Canadian Interview Project, an oral history of Kankakee County descendants of original settlers by the students of Professor James F. Paul of Kankakee Community College. Kankakee County has produced three governors: Len Small (R), Samuel Shapiro (D) and George H. Ryan (R) Timeline
Population History
Research TipsExternal links
|
