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Office: Putnam County Sheriff’s Office – 120 North 4th Street, Hennepin, IL 61327, behind the courthouse. Hours: Mon-Fri 9 AM-4 PM. Jail capacity 5 beds.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-180 and SR-26 serve Hennepin, the county seat, on the Illinois River, part of the Ottawa Micropolitan Statistical Area; Granville is the county’s largest village.
Notes: Putnam County was formed in 1825 from Fulton County, named for Israel Putnam, a general in the American Revolution. The county was originally enormous – roughly 11,000 square miles at its founding – before repeatedly donating away land to form new counties: Bureau County (winter 1836), Marshall County (January 1839), and Stark County (March 1839). Today Putnam County covers just 172 square miles, genuinely making it both the smallest county in Illinois by area and the least populous.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Putnam County Courthouse – 120 N. 4th Street, Hennepin, IL (built 1837-1839, Greek Revival with four Doric columns at the entrance, builders Gorham & Durley; National Register of Historic Places since 1975).
Notes: The Putnam County Courthouse is genuinely the oldest courthouse in Illinois still serving its original purpose. Abraham Lincoln visited and practiced at the courthouse during his legal career. Hennepin itself, incorporated in 1837, is named for the explorer Louis Hennepin.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Putnam County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via co.putnam.il.us.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Hennepin Public Library District (Hennepin) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Putnam County Courthouse (Illinois’s oldest still-serving courthouse, National Register of Historic Places), the Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park, and the Illinois River waterfront at Hennepin are the county’s premier heritage and recreational attractions.
Notes: The genuine, remarkable shrinkage of Putnam County – from roughly 11,000 square miles at its 1825 founding down to just 172 today, Illinois’s smallest – combined with hosting the state’s oldest continuously used courthouse, is among the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Putnam County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via co.putnam.il.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via co.putnam.il.us; Putnam County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Putnam County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via co.putnam.il.us.
NOTES: Putnam County is the sixty-ninth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, remarkable shrinkage of Putnam County from 11,000 square miles to Illinois’s smallest county, combined with its oldest-in-the-state courthouse, is among the most distinctive 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 Putnam County County
Putnam County is Illinois’s smallest county by area – 160 square miles centered on the Illinois River valley where Hennepin serves the county’s agricultural and river communities in a compact landscape between Starved Rock and the central Illinois prairie.
Hennepin (the county seat, population ~700) is Putnam County’s governmental hub on the Illinois River, a small north-central Illinois river community serving the county’s agricultural and river recreation communities in Illinois’s most compact county.
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Putnam County Supervisor of Assessments at 120 N. 4th Street, Hennepin, IL 61327, phone 815-925-7129. IL assessed at 33.33% of market value.
Courts & Legal
Putnam County Circuit Court at 120 N. 4th Street, Hennepin, IL 61327, phone 815-925-7016, 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)
120 N. 4th St., Hennepin, IL 61327
(815) 925-7016
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
120 N. 4th St., Hennepin, IL 61327
(815) 925-7016
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
120 N. 4th St., Hennepin, IL 61327
(815) 925-7016
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Putnam County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Putnam 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
Putnam County Circuit Clerk 120 North 4th Street, P.O. Box 207, Hennepin, IL 61327 (815) 925-7016
Putnam County was founded in 1825, named for Revolutionary War general Israel Putnam. It is the smallest Illinois county by land area. The 1839 Putnam County Courthouse (Greek Revival, National Register of Historic Places) is the oldest courthouse in Illinois still in continuous use in its original form. All civil filings must be e-filed.
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 Putnam 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 Putnam 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
120 N. 4th St., Hennepin, IL 61327
(815) 925-7348
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
120 N. 4th St., Hennepin, IL 61327
(815) 925-7016
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
120 N. 4th St., Hennepin, IL 61327
(815) 925-7016
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Putnam County Health Dept
(815) 925-7382
IL DCFS — Peru
(815) 220-7700
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Putnam County Health Department – confirm current contact via co.putnam.il.us.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Hennepin
Population: 5,700
Area: 160 sq mi (Illinois' smallest county by area)
Established: 1825
Public Records
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