Livingston County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 35,815. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Pontiac. Livingston County comprises the Pontiac, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is combined with the Bloomington–Normal

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

as the Bloomington-Pontiac, IL

Combined Statistical Area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...

History

Livingston was established on February 27, 1837. It was formed from parts of McLean, LaSalle, and Iroquois counties, and named after Edward Livingston, a prominent politician who was

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public proper ...

and represented New York in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

in both houses of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. He later served as

Andrew Jackson's Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

Secretary of State and as Minister to France. Although he had no connections to Illinois, the General Assembly found him accomplished enough to name a county after him. File:Livingston County Illinois 1837.png, Livingston County at the time of its creation in 1837

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water. It is the fourth-largest county in Illinois by land area.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Pontiac have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1927 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Major highways

* Interstate 55 *

U.S. Highway 24 U.S. Route 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Missouri, in the west. Today, the highway's eastern terminus is in Independence Township, Mich ...

U.S. Highway 66 * Illinois Route 17 *

Illinois Route 18 Illinois Route 18 (IL 18) is a rural east–west state route in central Illinois. It runs east from the town of Henry at Illinois Route 29 to the town of Blackstone at Illinois Route 17. This is a distance of . Route description Illin ...

Illinois Route 23 Illinois Route 23 (IL 23) is a north–south state highway in northern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 116 in Pontiac north to U.S. Route 14 south of Harvard. This is a distance of . Illinois 23 was established in 1918 as one of the ...

* Illinois Route 47 * Illinois Route 116 * Illinois Route 170

Adjacent counties

* LaSalle County - northwest * Grundy County - north * Kankakee County - northeast * Ford County - southeast * McLean County - southwest * Woodford County - west

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 38,950 people, 14,613 households, and 9,741 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 15,895 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.8% white, 4.9% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 1.3% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 36.6% were German, 17.2% were Irish, 11.2% were American, 10.7% were English, and 5.1% were Italian. Of the 14,613 households, 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.3% were non-families, and 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.98. The median age was 40.8 years. The median income for a household in the county was $50,500 and the median income for a family was $60,933. Males had a median income of $44,639 versus $32,234 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,259. About 9.1% of families and 11.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 15.4% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Fairbury * Pontiac * Streator

Town

* Chatsworth

Villages

* Campus *

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...

* Cullom * Dwight * Emington * Flanagan * Forrest * Long Point * Odell * Reddick * Saunemin * Strawn

Townships

Livingston County is divided into thirty

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

: *

Amity Amity may refer to: Places United States * Eagar, Arizona, a town, formerly named Amity * Amity (New Haven), Connecticut, a neighborhood * Amity, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Amity, Illinois (disambiguation) * Amity, Indiana, an uni ...

* Avoca * Belle Prairie * Broughton *

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

* Chatsworth * Dwight * Eppards Point * Esmen * Fayette * Forrest * Germanville * Indian Grove * Long Point *

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

* Newtown * Odell * Owego * Pike * Pleasant Ridge * Pontiac *

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

* Rooks Creek * Round Grove * Saunemin *

Sullivan Sullivan may refer to: People Characters * Chloe Sullivan, from the television series ''Smallville'' * Colin Sullivan, a character in the film ''The Departed'', played by Matt Damon * Harry Sullivan (''Doctor Who''), from the British science f ...

* Sunbury * Union * Waldo

Unincorporated communities

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

* Blackstone *

Blair Blair is an English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or "field", frequently a “ba ...

Budd Budd may refer to: People * Budd (given name) * Budd (surname) Places * Budd Coast, Wilkes Land, Antarctica * Budd Creek, California * Budd Peak (Enderby Land), Antarctica * Budd Peak (Heard Island), Indian Ocean ** Budd Pass * Budd Inlet, a ...

Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada * Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinois ...

Graymont Graymont is a historic mansion in Richmond, Virginia, US. History The Graymont mansion was built in 1902 by tobacco businessman and attorney Archibald W. Patterson. The house, which is 7,000 square feet, is located on Cary Street in the Wilton ...

* Manville *

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

Government and infrastructure

The Illinois Department of Corrections operates two prisons in the county.

Pontiac Correctional Center Pontiac Correctional Center, established in June 1871, is an Illinois Department of Corrections maximum security prison (Level 1) for adult males in Pontiac, Illinois. The prison also has a medium security unit that houses medium to minimum ...

is located in Pontiac. Pontiac houses the male death row. Prior to the January 11, 2003 commutation of death row sentences, male death row inmates were housed in Pontiac,

Menard Menard may refer to: Places Canada * Menard River, a tributary of the Wawagosic River in Quebec, Canada United States * Menard County, Illinois ** Menard, Illinois * Menard County, Texas ** Menard, Texas * Menard–Hodges site, archaeologic ...

, and Tamms correctional centers.DOC Report Online
." Illinois Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 1, 2010.

Dwight Correctional Center Dwight Correctional Center (DCC), also known as Oakdale Reformatory for Women, and Illinois Penitentiary for Women at Dwight, was a women's prison in Livingston County, Illinois, United States, outside the village of Dwight, Illinois. It operat ...

is within Nevada Township in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in the county. The Dwight Correctional Center is currently unoccupied and was closed in 2013.

Politics

Although it was solidly Democratic before 1856, Livingston has since always been a powerfully Republican county. The solitary Democrat to win a majority of the county's vote since the Civil War has been Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1932 landslide triumph over

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, holding o ...

. Apart from that and the 1912 election when Woodrow Wilson won against a mortally divided Republican Party, Livingston has always voted Republican since that party was founded in 1856. Since 1940, only Lyndon Johnson in his 1964 landslide victory over the conservative

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the United States Republican Party, Republ ...

has won more than forty percent of the county's vote.

Notable residents

Donald Attig Donald Attig (born February 2, 1936, in Pontiac, Illinois) is an inventor, boat designer, entrepreneur, yachtsman and adventurer. Biography Attig attended St. Mary's Grade School, Pontiac Township High School, Flanagan, Illinois High School, a ...

, businessman and adventurer. *

Calistus Bruer Calistus Ashhel Bruer (September 8, 1885 – October 1, 1949) was an American farmer and politician. Bruer was born in Owego Township, Livingston County, Illinois. He went to Pontiac Township High School in Pontiac, Illinois and to Lake Fo ...

, Illinois state representative and farmer *

M. C. Eignus Melancthon C. Eignus (May 25, 1844 – August 21, 1941) was an American Methodist Episcopal Church clergyman and politician. Eignus was born in Blairsville, Pennsylvania. He studied in Moline, Illinois and at Henry College. He was ordained to ...

, Illinois state representative * Moira Harris, actress and wife of Gary Sinise. * William Harris, first President of the Illinois Senate. *

Irene Hunt Irene Hunt (May 18, 1907 – May 18, 2001) was an American children's writer known best for historical novels. She was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal for her first book, ''Across Five Aprils'', and won the medal for her second, '' Up a Ro ...

, Newbery Medal-winning author. * Francis Townsend, physician and political activist whose advocacy for an old age revolving pension influenced the creation of the U.S. Social Security program. * Skottie Young,

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

known for the Oz series. He was born and raised in Fairbury.