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Illinois County
Pike County, Illinois
Griggsville's Purple Martin capital and Pike County's deer hunting fame - from Griggsville's designation as the Purple Martin Capital of the Nation (Griggsville's resident J.L. Wade developed the modern multi-unit purple martin house in the 1960s and launched a national campaign to attract purple martins - the birds' mosquito-consuming capacity made them beloved by farmers, and Wade's company Nature House made Griggsville the center of American purple martin housing) to Pike County's reputation as one of Illinois's premier whitetail deer hunting counties (the county's wooded river bluffs and agricultural landscape produce trophy whitetail deer that attract hunters from across the country) and the Illinois River's scenic bluffs.
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Office: Pike County Sheriff’s Office – 204 E. Adams Street, Pittsfield, IL 62363 | (217) 285-5011 | Fax (217) 285-4496 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff David E. Greenwood, Chief Deputy Zachary L. Orr. Jail capacity 68 beds. Pike (County) Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), Director Josh Martin.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-107 serves Pittsfield, the county seat, situated between the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in western Illinois.
Notes: Pike County was formed January 31, 1821, from Edwards and Madison Counties, named for Zebulon Pike, an early explorer of the Louisiana Purchase territory. Pike County’s first settler, Ebenezer Franklin, built a cabin in early 1820 near what became Atlas, Illinois – as late as 1829, Atlas remained the only properly platted town in the county.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Pike County Courthouse – 100 E. Washington Street, Pittsfield, IL (completed 1895, Gothic Revival, the fifth courthouse in county history; part of the Pittsfield Historic District, National Register of Historic Places since 1980). The very first courthouse, completed mid-1821, was a modest 16-by-18-foot log building built by Daniel Shinn for $32.
Notes: Pike County holds genuinely extraordinary national historical significance as home to New Philadelphia, founded in 1836 by Frank McWorter – a formerly enslaved man who purchased his wife’s freedom in 1817, his own in 1819, and ultimately that of 16 family members for a combined $14,000. Free Frank platted and legally registered New Philadelphia, the first known town in the United States founded, planned, and formally registered by a Black American before the Civil War. The community grew to roughly 160 residents (about 30% Black, the rest white) living and working together with no documented racial violence, an integrated school, and reported ties to the Underground Railroad. The town declined after being bypassed by the railroad in 1869 and was eventually abandoned; archaeological excavations beginning in the early 2000s have uncovered more than 85,000 artifacts and the remains of 14 buildings. New Philadelphia became a National Historic Site, and in 2022 congressional legislation moved to establish it as a full National Historical Park within the National Park System.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Pike County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via pikecountyil.org.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Pittsfield Public Library (Pittsfield) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The New Philadelphia National Historic Site (the McWorter family’s town and cemetery), the Pike County Courthouse (National Register of Historic Places), and the Atlas historic site are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, nationally significant story of Frank McWorter and New Philadelphia – the first U.S. town platted and legally registered by a free Black American – is among the most historically important local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Pike County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via pikecountyil.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via pikecountyil.org; Pike County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Pike County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via pikecountyil.org.
NOTES: Pike County is the sixty-sixth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, nationally significant story of Frank McWorter and New Philadelphia is among the most historically important 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 Pike County
Pike County is western Illinois’s purple martin and trophy deer county – a scenic Illinois River bluff community with two very different national distinctions.
Griggsville (population ~1,100) became the Purple Martin Capital of the Nation through J.L. Wade’s 1960s campaign to popularize multi-unit martin houses across America. The town’s towering martin houses – including a 500-unit structure on the main street – and the Nature House manufacturing operation put Griggsville on national nature-enthusiast maps.
Pike County’s wooded bluffs, creek bottoms, and agricultural fields produce trophy whitetail deer that make it one of Illinois’s most sought-after hunting destinations, drawing lease hunters and outfitters from across the Midwest.
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Pike County Assessor at 121 E. Washington Street, Pittsfield, IL 62363, phone 217-285-6812. IL residential assessed at 33.33% of market value. Appeal to Board of Review.
Courts & Legal
Pike County Circuit Court at 121 E. Washington Street, Pittsfield, IL 62363, phone 217-285-6612, 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)
121 E. Washington St., Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 285-6812
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
121 E. Washington St., Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 285-4481
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
121 E. Washington St., Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 285-6812
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Pike County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Pike 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
Pike County Circuit Clerk (Eighth Judicial Circuit) 100 East Washington Street, Pittsfield, IL 62363 (217) 285-6612
Pike County is a large, rural county in west-central Illinois along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The Eighth Judicial Circuit also includes Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Mason, Menard, 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 Pike 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 Pike 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
121 E. Washington St., Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 285-4411
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
121 E. Washington St., Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 285-6812
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
121 E. Washington St., Pittsfield, IL 62363
(217) 285-6812
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Pike County Health Dept
(217) 285-4426
IL DCFS — Jacksonville
(217) 245-3554
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Pike County Memorial Hospital
pcmhosp.com (Pittsfield)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Pike County Health Department – confirm current contact via pikecountyil.org.
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