Livingston County, Illinois

Livingston was established on February 27, 1837. It was formed from parts of McLean, LaSalle, and Iroquois counties, and named after Edward Livingston,[3] a prominent politician who was mayor of New York City and represented New York in the United States House of Representatives and Louisiana in both houses of Congress. He later served as Andrew Jackson's 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.

• 
  Livingston County at the time of its creation in 1837

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,046 square miles (2,710 km²), of which 1,044 square miles (2,700 km²) is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) (0.2%) is water.[4] It is the fourth-largest county in Illinois by land area.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 38,950 people, 14,613 households, and 9,741 families residing in the county.[11] The population density was 37.3 inhabitants per square mile (14.4/km²). There were 15,895 housing units at an average density of 15.2 per square mile (5.9/km²).[4] 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.[11] 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.[12]

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.[11]

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, including 15.4% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.[13]

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

Pontiac Correctional Center is located in Pontiac.[14] 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, and Tamms correctional centers.[15] Dwight Correctional Center is within Nevada Township in an unincorporated area in the county.[16][17]

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

• Donald Attig, businessman and adventurer.
• Calistus Bruer, Illinois state representative and farmer[19]
• M. C. Eignus, Illinois state representative[20]
• Moira Harris, actress and wife of Gary Sinise.[21]
• William Harris, first President of the Illinois Senate.[22][23]
• Irene Hunt, 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.[24]
• Skottie Young, comic book artist known for the Oz series. He was born and raised in Fairbury.[25]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Livingston County, Illinois

• The History of Livingston County, Illinois: Containing a History of the County — Its Cities, Counties, Etc.; A Directory of Its Taxpayers; War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; General and Local Statistics; Map of Livingston County; History of Illinois, Illustrated; History of the Northwest, Illustrated; Constitution of the United States; Miscellaneous Matters; Etc., Etc. Chicago: William LeBaron, Jr. and Co., 1878.