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Illinois County
De Witt County, Illinois
Clinton Lake's nuclear-era recreation and Lincoln's courtroom - from Clinton Lake (the 4,900-acre cooling reservoir for the Clinton Power Station - Illinois's only operating nuclear power plant, whose cooling lake has become an outstanding fishery, particularly for striped bass stocked to utilize the warm water temperatures) to the DeWitt County Museum's Lincoln courtroom replica (Clinton was on Abraham Lincoln's Eighth Judicial Circuit, and the courthouse where Lincoln argued cases is commemorated in the county historical museum) and De Witt County's agricultural heartland.
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Office: DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office – 101 W. Washington Street, Clinton, IL 61727 | (217) 935-3196. 16 officers serving roughly 16,798 residents. Jail capacity 86 beds.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-51/54 serve Clinton, the county seat and largest city, part of the Bloomington-Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Clinton Nuclear Generating Station sits about six miles away on Clinton Lake.
Notes: DeWitt County was formed March 1, 1839, from parts of Macon and McLean counties, named for DeWitt Clinton, the seventh Governor of New York (1817-1823), a distinguished lawyer, financier, statesman, and chief promoter of the Erie Canal – with no direct personal connection to Illinois. Clinton, the county seat, was founded in 1835 by Jesse W. Fell of Bloomington and James Allen, an Illinois state legislator, who stopped to rest their horses on the open prairie roughly halfway between Decatur and Bloomington.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: DeWitt County Courthouse – Clinton, IL (completed 1986, the fourth courthouse in county history). The town of Marion (now DeWitt, Illinois) briefly served as temporary county seat until voters chose Clinton by a wide margin; the first permanent courthouse there was completed September 2, 1839, by contractor Henry Dishon for about $600.
Notes: DeWitt County has a genuine Abraham Lincoln legal connection: the C.H. Moore Homestead (219 E. Woodlawn Street, Clinton; National Register of Historic Places since 1979), now the DeWitt County Museum, was the home of Clifton H. Moore, the first resident attorney to practice in Clinton (starting 1841), who served as co-counsel alongside Abraham Lincoln on several DeWitt County circuit court cases presided over by future U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Davis.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: DeWitt County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via dewittcountyil.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Vespasian Warner Public Library (Clinton) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The C.H. Moore Homestead/DeWitt County Museum, the Magill House, and Clinton Lake are the county’s premier heritage and recreational attractions.
Notes: The genuine Abraham Lincoln legal connection preserved at the C.H. Moore Homestead is among the standout local historical facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: DeWitt County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via dewittcountyil.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via dewittcountyil.gov; DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: DeWitt County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via dewittcountyil.gov.
NOTES: DeWitt County is the twentieth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine Abraham Lincoln legal connection preserved at the C.H. Moore Homestead 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 De Witt County
De Witt County is central Illinois’s nuclear lake and Lincoln circuit county – a community whose nuclear power plant cooling reservoir has accidentally created an outstanding fishery and whose courthouse was on Abraham Lincoln’s judicial circuit.
Clinton Lake – the cooling reservoir for Constellation Energy’s Clinton Power Station – maintains elevated water temperatures that support striped bass, white bass, and other warm-water species unavailable in most Illinois lakes. The fishery has made Clinton Lake one of central Illinois’s most popular angling destinations.
Clinton (the county seat, population ~7,000) was on Abraham Lincoln’s Eighth Judicial Circuit – the traveling court where Lincoln built his legal reputation arguing cases across central Illinois.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
De Witt County Assessor at 201 W. Washington Street, Suite 101, Clinton, IL 61727, phone 217-935-7680. IL residential assessed at 33.33% of market value. Appeal to Board of Review.
Courts & Legal
De Witt County Circuit Court at 201 W. Washington Street, Clinton, IL 61727, phone 217-935-7770, 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)
201 W. Washington St., Clinton, IL 61727
(217) 935-2528
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
201 W. Washington St., Clinton, IL 61727
(217) 935-7760
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
201 W. Washington St., Clinton, IL 61727
(217) 935-2528
Genealogy
County-level record sources
DeWitt County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated DeWitt 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
DeWitt County Circuit Clerk (Sixth Judicial Circuit) 201 West Washington Street, Clinton, IL 61727 (217) 935-2195 / (217) 935-7750 The Sixth Judicial Circuit also includes Champaign, Douglas, Macon, Moultrie, and Piatt Counties.
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 DeWitt 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 DeWitt 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
201 W. Washington St., Clinton, IL 61727
(217) 935-2146
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
201 W. Washington St., Clinton, IL 61727
(217) 935-2528
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
201 W. Washington St., Clinton, IL 61727
(217) 935-2528
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
De Witt County Health Dept
(217) 935-3427
IL DCFS — Bloomington
(309) 862-6100
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Clinton LMH Hospital
clintonlmh.com (Clinton)
OSF St. Joseph Medical Center (Bloomington)
osfhealthcare.org
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: DeWitt County Health Department – confirm current contact via dewittcountyil.gov.
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Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Clinton
Population: 16,000
Area: 397 sq mi
Established: 1839
Tier: 3
Public Records
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