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Illinois County
Crawford County, Illinois
Illinois Basin oil country and Heath Candy bars - from Crawford County's significant petroleum production (the Illinois Basin oil fields have produced oil in Crawford County since the early 20th century - the pump jacks dotting the agricultural landscape are a characteristic feature of southeastern Illinois's oil heritage) to Robinson's Heath Candy Company (the Heath Bar - the toffee and chocolate confection that has been a beloved American candy since 1914 - was created by the Heath family in Robinson, making Crawford County the birthplace of one of America's most recognized candy brands before its acquisition by Hershey).
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Office: Crawford County Sheriff’s Office – 203 South Jefferson Street, Robinson, IL 62454 | (618) 546-1515 | Fax (618) 546-0141 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff William Rutan, Chief Deputy Doug Slater, Chief of Corrections Fred Chinn. Jail capacity 53 beds.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-1 and SR-33 serve Robinson, the county seat and largest city.
Notes: Crawford County’s first settler is reputed to have been a Frenchman named Lamotte, part of a wave of migration west from Vincennes, Indiana; English-speaking families founded nearby Palestine around 1809. The Illinois Territory legislature created Crawford County on December 31, 1816, from Edwards County, initially encompassing about a third of the territory before shrinking to its present size by 1831 as new counties were spun off. It was named for William H. Crawford, who served as U.S. Secretary of War and later Secretary of the Treasury.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Crawford County Courthouse – 100 Court Street, Robinson, IL (completed 1895, the fifth courthouse in county history and the second built in Robinson).
Notes: The county’s courthouse history in Palestine (the original county seat until an 1843 referendum moved it to Robinson) was genuinely dramatic: the first courthouse, built by local brick masons in 1819, was so poorly constructed that three separate lightning strikes left it damaged beyond repair, forcing its abandonment. A replacement frame courthouse, built in 1830, was never even occupied – it was destroyed by arson the night before it was to open.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Crawford County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via crawfordcountyil.org.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Robinson Public Library District (Robinson) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Crawford County Courthouse, historic Palestine (the county’s original seat), and downtown Robinson are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, dramatic 19th-century saga of Crawford County’s early courthouses – struck by lightning three times, then destroyed by arson before its opening – is among the standout local historical facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Crawford County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via crawfordcountyil.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via crawfordcountyil.org; Crawford County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Crawford County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via crawfordcountyil.org.
NOTES: Crawford County is the seventeenth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, dramatic 19th-century saga of Crawford County’s early courthouses is among the standout local historical facts covered in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Crawford County
Crawford County is southeastern Illinois’s oil and candy heritage county – a community whose petroleum production and confectionery invention give it an unlikely combination of industrial distinctions.
Robinson (the county seat, population ~7,500) is the birthplace of the Heath Bar – the toffee and milk chocolate candy bar created by Bayard and Everett Heath in 1914 that became one of America’s most popular candy brands. Hershey acquired the Heath brand in 1996, but Robinson celebrates its confectionery heritage with the annual Heath Bar Festival.
The Illinois Basin oil fields have produced petroleum in Crawford County since the early 20th century – the landscape of working pump jacks amid corn and soybean fields is characteristic of southeastern Illinois’s oil patch.
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Crawford County Assessor at 100 Douglas Street, Robinson, IL 62454, phone 618-544-8221. IL residential assessed at 33.33% of market value. Appeal to Board of Review.
Courts & Legal
Crawford County Circuit Court at 100 Douglas Street, Robinson, IL 62454, phone 618-544-3512, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
114 W. Madison St., Robinson, IL 62454
(618) 544-8213
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
114 W. Madison St., Robinson, IL 62454
(618) 544-3512
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
114 W. Madison St., Robinson, IL 62454
(618) 544-8213
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Crawford County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Crawford County’s early 20th-century oil boom history is a notable local historical resource.
Local societies
No dedicated Crawford County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Crawford County Circuit Clerk (Second Judicial Circuit) 1 Court Street, Robinson, IL 62454 (618) 544-3512
Crawford County sits along the Wabash River on the Indiana border in southeastern Illinois – the site of some of Illinois’ earliest oil discoveries in the early 20th century.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Illinois has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code and is not a community property state – it follows common law property principles. Illinois probate is governed by the Probate Act of 1975 (755 ILCS 5/). Two main paths:
Small Estate Affidavit – for estates where personal property (excluding real estate) is valued at $150,000 or less (raised from $100,000 effective August 15, 2025), with no unresolved debts or claims and no real estate involved. No formal court probate is required.
Formal Probate (Independent or Supervised Administration) – required when the estate doesn’t qualify for the small estate affidavit. Most Illinois probate cases proceed under Independent Administration, letting the estate representative act without prior court approval for most routine actions.
Step 2: filing for formal probate
File the decedent’s original will (if one exists) with the Crawford County Circuit Clerk, where the decedent resided at death.
Petition the court to open the estate and appoint an executor (if there’s a will) or an administrator (if intestate).
The court issues Letters of Office (Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration) appointing the representative.
Publish notice to creditors and unknown heirs as required by Illinois law.
Under Independent Administration, the representative marshals assets, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes the remaining estate without needing court approval for each step.
File a final accounting or closing documents to formally close the estate.
What it costs
Illinois imposes its own state estate tax on estates valued above $4 million, with rates up to 16%. There is no Illinois inheritance tax.
Filing fees vary by county – confirm current amounts with the Crawford County Circuit Clerk.
Most uncontested probate proceedings in Illinois can be completed within about a year.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
114 W. Madison St., Robinson, IL 62454
(618) 544-2418
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
114 W. Madison St., Robinson, IL 62454
(618) 544-8213
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
114 W. Madison St., Robinson, IL 62454
(618) 544-8213
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Crawford County Health Dept
(618) 546-1217
IL DCFS — Robinson
(618) 544-8291
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Crawford Memorial Hospital
crawfordmh.net (Robinson)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Crawford County Health Department – confirm current contact via crawfordcountyil.org.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Robinson
Population: 18,500
Area: 444 sq mi
Established: 1816
Tier: 3
Public Records
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