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County HistorySource: "Historical Encylopedia of Illinois, 1901" McLean County, the largest county of the state, having an area of 1,166 square miles, is central as to the region north of the latitutude of St. Louis and about midway between that city and Chicago -- was named for John McLean, an early United State Senator. The early immigrants were largely from Ohio, although Kentucky and New York were well represented. The county was organized in 1830, the population at that time being about 1,200. The greater portion of the surface is high, undulating prairie, with occasional groves and belts of timber. On the creek bottoms are found black walnut, sycamore, buckeye, black ash and elm, while the sandy ridges are covered with scrub oak and black-jack. The soil is extremely fertile (generally a rich, brown loam), and the entire county is underlaid with coal. The chief occupations are stock-raising, coal-mining, agriculture and manufactures. Sugar and Mackinaw Creeks, with their tributaries, afford thorough drainage. Sand and gravel beds are numerous, but vary greatly in depth. At Chenoa one has been found, in boring for coal, thirty feet thick, overlaid by forty-five feet of the clay common to this formation. The upper seam of coal in the Bloomington shafts is No. 6 of the general section, and the lower, No. 4; the latter averaging four feet in thickness. The principal towns are Bloomington (the county-seat), Normal, Lexington, LeRoy and Chenoa. Population in 1890 was 63,036; in 1900 - 67,843. Bloomington - the county-seat of McLean County, a flourishing city and railroad center, 59 miles northeast of Springfield; is in a rich agricultural and coal-minin district. Besides car shops and repair works employing some 2,000 hands, there are manufactories of stoves, furnaces, plows, flour, etc. Nurseries are numerous in the vicinity and horse breeding receives much attention. The city is the seat of Illinois Wesleyan University, has fine public schools, several newspapers (two published daily), besides educational and other publications. The business section suffered a disastrous fire in 1900, but has been rebuilt more substantially than before. The principal streets are paved and electric street cars connect with Normal (two miles distant), the site of the "State Normal Unviersity" and "Soldiers' Orphans' Home". Population in 1890 was 20,284; in 1900 - 23,286. County FormationEstablished: December 25, 1830 Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Eastern Part:
Western Part:
County Seat:
TownshipsClick here for McLean County Township Map
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