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Office: Mason County Sheriff’s Office – 102 W. Market Street, Havana, IL 62644 | (309) 543-2231 | Fax (309) 543-3564 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff Paul Gann. Jail capacity 42 beds.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-97/136 serve Havana, the county seat and largest city, on the Illinois River.
Notes: Mason County was created January 20, 1841, from portions of Tazewell and Menard Counties, named for George Mason, a Virginia legislator and key advocate for the U.S. Bill of Rights (an alternate source cites Mason County, Kentucky, as the direct namesake influence via early emigrants).
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Mason County Courthouse – 125 North Plum Street, Havana, IL (built 1882-1883, Federal style, buff-colored brick, remodeled and expanded 1960-1961).
Notes: Mason County’s seat has genuinely moved twice: political focus shifted from the Illinois River port town of Havana to the alternate location of Bath, before returning permanently to Havana once its status was finalized in 1851. Taxpayers built a courthouse on the current site that year; after it was destroyed by fire, the same footprint was reused for the present 1882-1883 building. Havana is also home to the oldest continuously used Carnegie library building in the state of Illinois, constructed in 1902, which also houses the Mason County Historical Society.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Mason County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via masoncountyil.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Havana Public Library District (Havana) – housed in Illinois’s oldest continuously used Carnegie library building (built 1902) – confirm current phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The historic Carnegie library building, the Mason County Courthouse, and the Illinois River waterfront at Havana are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine distinction of Havana’s library as the oldest continuously operating Carnegie library building in Illinois is among the standout local facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Mason County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via masoncountyil.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via masoncountyil.gov; Mason County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Mason County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via masoncountyil.gov.
NOTES: Mason County is the sixtieth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine distinction of Havana’s library as Illinois’s oldest continuously used Carnegie library is among the standout local 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 Mason County County
Mason County is central Illinois’s Illinois River wildlife refuge and sand prairie county – the Chautauqua refuge’s exceptional waterfowl migration and the glacial sand dunes that support a desert-like ecosystem in the Illinois heartland define a county whose ecological diversity is startling for its central Illinois location.
Havana (the county seat, population ~3,000) is Mason County’s governmental hub on the Illinois River, a central Illinois small city whose Chautauqua refuge access, Illinois River fishing, and sand prairie proximity anchor its identity as an outdoor recreation and ecological heritage destination.
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Mason County Supervisor of Assessments at 100 N. Broadway, Suite 3, Havana, IL 62644, phone 309-543-6661. IL assessed at 33.33% of market value.
Courts & Legal
Mason County Circuit Court at 100 N. Broadway, Havana, IL 62644, phone 309-543-6619, 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)
125 N. Plum St., Havana, IL 62644
(309) 543-6661
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
125 N. Plum St., Havana, IL 62644
(309) 543-2411
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
125 N. Plum St., Havana, IL 62644
(309) 543-6661
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Mason County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Mason 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
Mason County Circuit Clerk 125 North Plum Street, Havana, IL 62644 (309) 543-6619, option 2 Mason County is in central Illinois along the Illinois River.
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 Mason 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 Mason 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
125 N. Plum St., Havana, IL 62644
(309) 543-3241
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
125 N. Plum St., Havana, IL 62644
(309) 543-6661
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
125 N. Plum St., Havana, IL 62644
(309) 543-6661
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Mason County Health Dept
(309) 543-3380
IL DCFS — Peoria
(309) 671-7900
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Mason District Hospital
masondistricthospital.org (Havana)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Mason County Health Department – confirm current contact via masoncountyil.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Havana
Population: 13,500
Area: 539 sq mi
Established: 1841
Public Records
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