Kankakee County, Illinois

Kankakee County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 103,833. Its is. This county is part of the (CSA) for Chicago, though not included in the  (MSA) of.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,765 (681 ). 1,753 km² (677 sq mi) of it is land and 12 km² (5 sq mi) of it (0.69%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - southwest
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 103,833 people, 38,182 households, and 26,765 families residing in the county. The was 59/km² (153/sq mi). There were 40,610 housing units at an average density of 23/km² (60/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 79.89%, 15.47% or , 0.18% , 0.68% , 0.02% , 2.38% from , and 1.38% from two or more races. 4.78% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 38,182 households out of which 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.80% were living together, 13.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.90% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the county the population was spread out with 27.10% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 22.00% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,532, and the median income for a family was $48,975. Males had a median income of $37,776 versus $25,287 for females. The for the county was $19,055. About 8.70% of families and 11.40% of the population were below the, including 15.60% of those under age 18 and 7.20% of those age 65 or over.

History
Settlers came to Kankakee County in, after the federal government signed the in. As word spread about the government acquiring the land, many immigrants of and  moved their way west, mostly locating in.

An act of the Illinois Legislature created Kankakee County out of the north part of and the south part of  on,. The six original townships were: Yellowhead, Rockville,, , , and Limestone. The population of the new county was about 8,000. It wasn’t until 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.

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)

Townships

 * Aroma Township
 * Bourbonnais Township
 * Essex Township
 * Ganeer Township
 * Kankakee Township
 * Limestone Township
 * Manteno Township
 * Momence Township
 * Norton Township
 * Otto Township
 * Pembroke Township
 * Pilot Township
 * Rockville Township
 * St. Anne Township
 * Salina Township
 * Sumner Township
 * Yellowhead Township