Ogle County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the northern part of 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 so ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. According to the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 51,788. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and its largest city is Rochelle. Ogle County comprises Rochelle, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Rockford- Freeport-Rochelle, IL Combined Statistical Area.

History

Ogle County was formed in 1836 out of Jo Daviess and LaSalle counties, and named in honor of Captain Joseph Ogle, a veteran of the Revolutionary War who settled in Illinois in 1785. Ogle County government was organized in 1837; before that time it remained assigned to Jo Daviess County for legislative, taxation, and judicial matters. In 1839, part of Ogle County was partitioned off to form Lee County. Ogle County was a

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

settlement. The founders of

and Rochelle arrived from

; they were "

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Their various meanings depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, the Northeastern United Stat ...

s", descendants of English

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

who had settled

in the 1600s. They were part of a wave of farmers who migrated into the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from part of the unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolution. Established ...

in the early 1800s, their trek eased by completion of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

in 1825. They found virgin forest and wild prairie, and quickly laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes. They brought a passion for education and strong

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. ...

. They were members of the Congregationalist or

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

Church. Culturally Ogle County, like much of northern

would maintain values similar to those of New England. File:Ogle County Illinois 1836.png, Ogle County between 1836 and 1839 File:Ogle County Illinois 1839.png, Ogle County after 1839, when Lee County was formed

Geography

According to the

US Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.6%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Winnebago County - north * Boone County - northeast * Stephenson County - northwest *

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

- east * Carroll County - west * Lee County - south * Whiteside County - southwest

Climate

In recent years, average temperatures in Oregon have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July, although a record low of was recorded in January 1999 and a record high of was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 53,497 people, 20,856 households, and 14,711 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 22,561 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.2% white, 0.9% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 3.8% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 8.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 38.0% were German, 15.3% were Irish, 10.2% were English, 6.4% were American, 5.3% were Swedish, and 5.3% were Norwegian. Of the 20,856 households, 33.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.5% were non-families, and 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.01. The median age was 40.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $55,733 and the median income for a family was $64,927. Males had a median income of $49,996 versus $32,082 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,959. About 6.6% of families and 8.9% 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 12.4% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

By 2000, 65% of the county

labor force In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...

was employed as

white-collar worker A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional service, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or similar setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, co ...

s with an increase of 20 points in comparison with 1990 statistics.

Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

remains the leading employment sector absorbing more than 21.7% of the labor force though there was a decrease from 30,4% in 1995. However it is expected that services would replace manufacturing starting 2015 as the leading activity. Agriculture remains important in Ogle county, mainly corn and soybeans. In 2003, the Illinois Department of Agriculture ranked Ogle County 17th in the State for crop cash receipts, and 14th in the state for livestock cash receipts. As for livestock production, hogs and pigs are still leading even though productions decreased from 57,000 units in 1998 to 48,900 in 2002. The county also got some investment packages such as a $180 million truck-to-train cargo hub in 2006. In August 2006, it was announced that a new

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

production facility would receive a package of $5.5 million Opportunity Returns grant from the State.

Politics

Along with its neighbor Lee County, Ogle County is one of the most consistently Republican counties in the nation when it comes to presidential elections. Except for the 1912 election when the GOP was divided between Progressive nominee

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

and incumbent president

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

, Ogle County has voted Republican in every Presidential election since the Republican Party first participated in 1856. No Democratic candidate has ever won the county, which favored the Whig Party before the Republican Party was formed. Historically, Republicans have easily carried the county in statewide and national Democratic landslides.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

never garnered more than 39 percent of the county's vote in any of his four runs for president, and

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

won over 60 percent here in 1964–almost identical to

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

's winning margin statewide. Illinois' own

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

is the only Democrat to ever win at least 40 percent of the county's vote. The county is part of Illinois's 16th congressional district. represented by Republican Darin LaHood.

Transportation

Transit

* List of intercity bus stops in Illinois

Major highways

Interstate 39 Interstate 39 (I-39) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Illinois and Wisconsin that runs from an interchange at I-55 in Normal, Illinois, to State Trunk Highway 29 (WIS 29) approximately south of Wausau, Wisconsin. In to ...

* Interstate 88 * U.S. Highway 51 * U.S. Highway 52 * Illinois Route 2 *

Illinois Route 26 Illinois Route 26 (IL 26, Illinois 26) is a north–south state highway in central and north-central Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 116 just north of East Peoria to Highway 69 at the Wisconsin border near Orangeville. This is a d ...

* Illinois Route 38 * Illinois Route 64 * Illinois Route 72 * Illinois Route 110 * Illinois Route 251

Airports

The following public-use airports are located in the county: * Ogle County Airport (C55) - Mount Morris, Illinois * Rochelle Municipal Airport (RPJ) -

Rochelle, Illinois Rochelle is a city in Ogle and Lee counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,446 at the 2020 census. Rochelle is approximately west of Chicago and south of Rockford. History Originally named "Lane", the town sits at the inter ...

Railroads

The Union Pacific line to Omaha (Chicago & North Western), BNSF line to Minneapolis (Burlington Route, later Burlington Northern), Canadian Pacific Kansas City line to Sabula (Milwaukee Road) all run through Ogle County.

Recreation

Parks

* Castle Rock State Park * Lowden State Park * Lowden-Miller State Forest * Sinnissippi Farms * Weld Park * White Pines State Park

Illinois Nature Preserves

* Beach Cemetery Prairie Nature Preserve * Douglas E. Wade Prairie Nature Preserve * Jarrett Prairie Nature Preserve * Nachusa Grasslands

Communities

Cities

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

Polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

* Rochelle

Villages

Adeline Adeline may refer to: People *Adeline (given name) *Yves-Marie Adeline (born 1960), French Catholic writer Places *Adeline, Illinois, village in Maryland Township, Ogle County, Illinois, US Arts and entertainment *Adeline Records, recording lab ...

* Creston * Davis Junction * Forreston * Hillcrest * Leaf River * Monroe Center * Mount Morris * Stillman Valley

Unincorporated communities

* Baileyville * Brookville * Buffalo Grove * Chana * Daysville * Egan * Flagg * Flagg Center * Hazelhurst (partial) * Holcomb * Kings * Lindenwood * Paynes Point * Stratford * Woosung

Census-designated places

* Grand Detour * Lost Nation

Townships

* Brookville Township * Buffalo Township * Byron Township * Dement Township * Eagle Point Township * Flagg Township * Forreston Township * Grand Detour Township * Lafayette Township * Leaf River Township * Lincoln Township * Lynnville Township * Marion Township * Maryland Township * Monroe Township * Mount Morris Township * Oregon-Nashua Township * Pine Creek Township * Pine Rock Township * Rockvale Township * Scott Township * Taylor Township * White Rock Township * Woosung Township

References

External links

Official website

Ogle County History
{{Coord, 42.04, -89.32, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-IL_source:UScensus1990 1836 establishments in Illinois Illinois counties Populated places established in 1836 *