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Office: Menard County Sheriff’s Office – 102 South Seventh Street, Petersburg, IL 62675 (2nd Floor, Menard County Courthouse). Menard County Detention Facility – 315 South Sixth Street, Petersburg, IL (opened 1984, staffed 24/7, along SR-97). Dispatch serves Menard County deputies plus Petersburg, Athens, and Greenview city police, along with EMS, fire, and rescue countywide.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-97/123 serve Petersburg, the county seat, about 15 miles northwest of Springfield.
Notes: Menard County was organized February 15, 1839, from the northern part of Sangamon County, named for Pierre Menard, Illinois’s first lieutenant governor. Petersburg was founded in 1833 by George Warburton and Peter Lukins, friends of Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln himself personally surveyed the town in 1835-1836.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Menard County Courthouse – 102 South Seventh Street, Petersburg, IL.
Notes: Menard County holds profound, deeply personal significance in Abraham Lincoln’s life. Lincoln lived in the nearby village of New Salem from 1831 to 1837 – his formative early adult years – before the village was abandoned by 1840 as residents relocated to the newly established county seat of Petersburg. Founded in 1829 when James Rutledge and John Camron built a gristmill on the Sangamon River, New Salem was reconstructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps based on its original foundations and is preserved today as Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, featuring 23 log buildings with costumed interpreters. The grave of Ann Rutledge, believed to have been Lincoln’s sweetheart during his New Salem years, lies at Oakland Cemetery just south of Petersburg; New Salem friends Samuel Hill, Dr. John Allen, and Dr. Francis Regnier are buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, and Lincoln’s teacher and longtime friend Mentor Graham is buried at Farmers Point Cemetery near the junction of Routes 97 and 123.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Menard County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via menardcountyil.com.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Petersburg Public Library (Petersburg) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site (23 reconstructed log buildings, summer amphitheater performances), Oakland Cemetery (Ann Rutledge’s grave), and downtown Petersburg’s Victorian-era architecture and preserved cobblestone streets are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, deeply personal significance of Lincoln’s six formative New Salem years – and the preserved graves of those closest to him during that time – is among the most historically profound local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Menard County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via menardcountyil.com.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via menardcountyil.com; Menard County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Menard County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via menardcountyil.com.
NOTES: Menard County is the sixty-fifth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, deeply personal significance of Lincoln’s six formative New Salem years is among the most historically profound local facts covered anywhere 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 Menard County County
Menard County is central Illinois’s Lincoln’s New Salem county – the reconstructed frontier village where Abraham Lincoln spent his formative young adult years reading law and developing his political character defines a county whose Lincoln heritage is among the most intimate and significant of any community in Illinois.
Petersburg (the county seat, population ~2,200) is Menard County’s governmental hub on the Sangamon River, a central Illinois small city whose Lincoln’s New Salem proximity, Sangamon River setting, and Edgar Lee Masters heritage anchor its identity as one of Illinois’s most historically layered small communities.
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Menard County Supervisor of Assessments at 102 S. 7th Street, Petersburg, IL 62675, phone 217-632-5990. IL assessed at 33.33% of market value.
Courts & Legal
Menard County Circuit Court at 102 S. 7th Street, Petersburg, IL 62675, phone 217-632-2615, 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)
102 S. 7th St., Petersburg, IL 62675
(217) 632-3201
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
102 S. 7th St., Petersburg, IL 62675
(217) 632-2615
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
102 S. 7th St., Petersburg, IL 62675
(217) 632-3201
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Menard County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, Petersburg – a major regional historical resource documenting Abraham Lincoln’s early adult life (1831-1837).
Local societies
No dedicated Menard 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
Menard County Circuit Clerk (Eighth Judicial Circuit) 102 South 7th Street, 2nd Floor, Petersburg, IL 62675 (217) 632-2615
Menard County is home to Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site, a reconstructed village where Abraham Lincoln lived as a young man. The Eighth Judicial Circuit also includes Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Mason, Pike, and Schuyler 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 Menard 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 Menard 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
102 S. 7th St., Petersburg, IL 62675
(217) 632-3232
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
102 S. 7th St., Petersburg, IL 62675
(217) 632-3201
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
102 S. 7th St., Petersburg, IL 62675
(217) 632-3201
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Menard County Health Dept
(217) 632-2923
IL DCFS — Springfield
(217) 785-2513
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Memorial Medical Center (Springfield)
memorialmedical.com
HSHS St. John's Hospital (Springfield)
hshs.org/st-johns
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Menard County Health Department – confirm current contact via menardcountyil.com.
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County Facts
County Seat: Petersburg
Population: 12,500
Area: 314 sq mi
Established: 1839
Public Records
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