Peoria County is located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

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 Rock ...

. The

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

listed its population at 181,830. 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 Peoria. Peoria County is part of the Peoria, IL

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 as a city or tow ...

History

Peoria County was formed in 1825 out of Fulton County. It was named for the Peoria, an

Illiniwek The Illinois Confederation, also referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were made up of 12 to 13 tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley. Eventually member tribes occupied an area reaching from Lake Michicigao (Michigan) to Iowa, Ill ...

people who lived there. It included most of the western valley of the Illinois River up to the Chicago river portage.

Gallery timeline

File:Peoria County Illinois 1825.png, Peoria County at creation, with unorganized territory attached to it.White, Jesse. ''Origin and Evolution of Illinois Counties.'' State of Illinois, March 2010.

/ref> File:Peoria County Illinois 1826.png, Peoria County 1826–1827. The newly created Mercer and Warren Counties were temporarily attached to Peoria. File:Peoria County Illinois 1827.png, Peoria County 1827–1830. The creation of Tazewell County left Peoria with only a small tract of unorganized territory east of the Illinois River, whose border was not defined. File:Peoria County Illinois 1830.png, In 1830, Warren County organized a government. File:Peoria County Illinois 1831.png, In 1831, Peoria County's present borders were established and Mercer County was attached to Warren.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.8%) is water. The county is drained by

Spoon River The Spoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 tributary of the Illinois River in west-central Illinois in the United States. The river drains largely ...

, Kickapoo Creek, Elbow Creek, and Copperas Creek.

Climate and weather

In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Peoria have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1884 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in January to in May.

Adjacent counties

* Knox County – northwest * Stark County – north * Marshall County – northeast * Woodford County – east * Tazewell County – south * Fulton County – southwest

Transportation

Transit

* Greater Peoria Mass Transit District * List of intercity bus stops in Illinois

Major highways

Interstate 74 in Illinois Interstate 74 (I-74) in the US state of Illinois is a major northwest–southeast Interstate Highway that runs across the central portion of the state. It runs from the Iowa state line at the Mississippi River near the city of Rock Islan ...

* Interstate 474 *

U.S. Route 24 in Illinois U.S. Route 24 (US 24) in the U.S. state of Illinois is a major arterial road that runs from the Missouri state line at the Mississippi River in Quincy to Sheldon. This is a distance of . Route description Quincy to East Peoria From Qui ...

* U.S. Route 150 in Illinois * Illinois Route 6 * Illinois Route 8 *

Illinois Route 9 Illinois Route 9 (IL 9) is a cross-state, east–west rural state highway in the central part of the U.S. state of Illinois. It travels from Niota at the Fort Madison Toll Bridge, that crosses the Mississippi River into Iowa, eastward across ce ...

Illinois Route 29 Illinois Route 29 (IL 29) is a two to four lane state road that runs south from U.S. Route 6/ Illinois Route 89 at Spring Valley to U.S. Route 51/ Illinois Route 16 at Pana, running through Pekin, Peoria and Springfield. The nearest major n ...

* Illinois Route 40 * Illinois Route 78 * Illinois Route 90 *

Illinois Route 91 Illinois Route 91 (IL 91) is a rural state route in central Illinois. It runs from the northwest edge of Peoria at U.S. Highway 150 (US 150) to U.S. Highway 34 and Illinois Route 78 south of Kewanee. Illinois 91 is long. Route de ...

* Illinois Route 116 * Illinois Route 336 (Soon)

Defunct highways

* Illinois Route 174 * Illinois Route 175

Airports

* General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport (PIA), formerly Greater Peoria Regional Airport * Mount Hawley Auxiliary Airport (3MY) – Peoria, Illinois

Demographics

As of the

, there were 181,830 people, including 73,253 households. The population density was . There were 83,034 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 73.5% white alone, 18.8% black or African American alone, 4.1% Asian alone, 0.4% American Indian alone, .1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, 3.1% listed two or more races, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, and 69.4% listed white with no Hispanic or Latino. In terms of ancestry, per the 2010 US Census, 28.3% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, 14.8% were Irish, 10.4% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, and 5.5% were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. Of the 75,793 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.7% were non-families, and 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 36.8 years. The median income for a household in the county was $49,747 and the median income for a family was $63,163. Males had a median income of $51,246 versus $32,881 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,157. About 10.3% of families and 14.5% 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 21.8% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Points of interest

* Glasford crater * Jubilee College State Park * WMBD World's Most Beautiful Drive (Grandview Drive/Prospect) * Forest Park Nature Center * Peoria Heights Tower Park * Rock Island Trail

Communities

Cities

* Chillicothe * Elmwood * Farmington (mostly in Fulton County) * Pekin (mostly in Tazewell County) * Peoria (seat) * West Peoria

Villages

* Bartonville * Bellevue * Brimfield * Dunlap * Glasford * Hanna City * Kingston Mines * Mapleton * Norwood * Peoria Heights (partly in Woodford County and Tazewell County) * Princeville

Census-designated places

* Lake Camelot * Mossville *

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

* Smithville * Trivoli

Unincorporated communities

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

* Alta *

Edelstein Edelstein is the German word for "gemstone". Edelstein is also a surname of German origin which means "noble stone" or in its literal sense "precious stone". Surname: * People with this surname include: ** Arnold Edelstein, Austrian-American carto ...

* Eden *

Edwards Edwards may refer to: People * Edwards (surname) * Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile * Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate * Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and or ...

* Elmore * Kickapoo *

Lake of the Woods Lake of the Woods (french: Lac des Bois, oj, Pikwedina Sagainan) is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over long and wide, containing more than 14,5 ...

* Laura * Mossville * Trivoli

Townships

* Brimfield * Chillicothe * Elmwood * Hallock * Hollis * Jubilee * Kickapoo *

Limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gov ...

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

* Millbrook * Peoria City * Princeville * Radnor * Richwoods * Rosefield *

Timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

* Trivoli * West Peoria

School districts

Notable residents

People from Peoria County other than in the city of Peoria: * Chris Brackett, host of ''Arrow Affliction'' on

The Sportsman Channel Sportsman Channel is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Outdoor Sportsman Group subsidiary of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The channel is dedicated to programming about outdoor sports, inc ...

* Mike Dunne, pitcher for several

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

teams * Mary Emma Holmes (1839-1937), reformer, suffragist, and educator *

Bill Krieg William Frederick Krieg (January 29, 1859 – March 25. 1930) was a Major League Baseball player from 1884 to 1887.

, Major League Baseball player * Lance (Henry) LeGault, TV and movie actor: Colonel Roderick Decker on ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court ma ...

'' * Zach McAllister, Major League Baseball player: Cleveland Indians pitcher *

Johnston McCulley John William Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was an American writer of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Biography Born in O ...

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...

author: creator of

Zorro Zorro ( Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante w ...

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

, Actor, Comedian *

David Ogden Stiers David Allen Ogden Stiers ( ; October 31, 1942 – March 3, 2018) was an American actor and conductor. He appeared in numerous productions on Broadway, and originated the role of Feldman in '' The Magic Show'', in which he appeared for fou ...

, actor, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. T ...

'' *

Josh Taylor Josh or Joshua Taylor may refer to: * Josh Taylor (actor) (born 1943), American comedy and dramatic television actor * Josh Taylor (baseball) (born 1993), American professional baseball pitcher * Josh Taylor (boxer) (born 1991), Scottish professio ...

, TV actor: Chris Kostichek on the soap opera ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' * Jim Thome, first baseman for several

teams

Government

Peoria County is governed by an 18-member County Board which meets on the second Thursday of each month. Each member represents a district with roughly 10,000 residents. The County also elects an Auditor, Circuit Clerk, Coroner, County Clerk, Sheriff, State's Attorney, Regional Superintendent (Education), and Treasurer to four-year terms.

Politics

Prior to 1992, Peoria County, like most of central Illinois, was powerfully Republican. Usually, it only voted for Democratic Party presidential candidates when they won nationally by a landslide. It began trending away from the GOP in the mid-1980s, as evidenced when

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

only carried it with 55 percent of the vote in 1984 even as he was winning reelection in a landslide nationally. From 1992 onward, the county has backed the Democratic candidate in every presidential election, though never by a margin greater than 10 percent aside from 2008 when Illinoisan

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

won it by nearly 14 points. This relative closeness in results was most evident in 2004 when the county backed

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

over George W. Bush by only 70 votes. In Congress, Peoria County is represented by Democrat Cheri Bustos of

Illinois's 17th congressional district The 17th congressional district of Illinois is represented by Democrat Cheri Bustos. It includes most of the northwestern portion of the state, with most of its population living on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, as well as parts of Peor ...

and Republican Darin LaHood of the

Illinois's 18th congressional district The 18th congressional district of Illinois covered central and western Illinois, including all of Jacksonville and Quincy and parts of Bloomington, Peoria, and Springfield. It was last represented by Republican Darin LaHood, who took of ...

. In the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

, Peoria County is represented by Republican Win Stoller of the 37th Legislative District and Democrat Dave Koehler of the 46th Legislative District. In the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

, Peoria County is represented by Republican Ryan Spain of the 73rd Representative District, Republican

Mark Luft Mark A. Luft is a Republican member of the Illinois House from the 91st district since January 13, 2021 and the mayor of Pekin since April 2019. The 91st district, located in the Peoria metropolitan area, includes all or parts of Banner, Bar ...

of the 91st Representative District and Democrat Jehan Gordon-Booth of the 92nd Representative District.

References

External links

{{Coord, 40.79, -89.76, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 Illinois counties Illinois placenames of Native American origin 1825 establishments in Illinois Populated places established in 1825 Peoria metropolitan area, Illinois