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Office: Scott County Sheriff’s Office – 32/35 E. Market Street, Winchester, IL 62694 | (217) 742-3141; Sheriff Thomas R. Eddinger.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Scott County is genuinely Illinois’s fourth-least populous county (4,949 residents as of 2020).
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-100/106 serve Winchester, the county seat and largest city, part of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area within the broader Springfield-Jacksonville-Lincoln Combined Statistical Area.
Notes: Scott County was formed in 1839 from Morgan County, named for Scott County, Kentucky. Scott County’s first settlers arrived in 1820, one year after the region was ceded by Native Americans; a pair of local shopkeepers founded Winchester in 1830, naming it for one of their Kentucky hometowns (Winchester, Kentucky).
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Scott County Courthouse – Market Street at Hill Street, Winchester, IL (completed 1885, eclectic architectural style, the third courthouse in county history; part of the Winchester Historic District, National Register of Historic Places since 1979). In 1917, the county converted the courthouse tower into a clock tower.
Notes: The Winchester Historic District’s older buildings mainly reflect Federal and Greek Revival styles, including a Presbyterian church described by the Illinois Historic Structures Survey as the most exceptional Greek Revival church in any Illinois city with a population over 500. James M. Riggs, who served as Scott County Sheriff from 1864 to 1866, went on to a notable local political and legal career: he was admitted to the bar in 1867, served in the Illinois House of Representatives (1871-1872), was Scott County State’s Attorney (1872-1876), and served as Mayor of Winchester (1876-1877).
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Scott County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via scottcoil.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Winchester Public Library (Winchester) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Winchester Historic District (National Register of Historic Places), the Scott County Courthouse, and the historic Greek Revival Presbyterian Church are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine architectural distinction of Winchester’s Presbyterian church, alongside former Sheriff James M. Riggs’s notable later political career, are among the standout local facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Scott County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via scottcoil.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via scottcoil.gov; Scott County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Scott County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via scottcoil.gov.
NOTES: Scott County is the seventy-sixth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine architectural distinction of Winchester’s Presbyterian church and former Sheriff James M. Riggs’s later political career are 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 Scott County County
Scott County is west-central Illinois’s quiet Illinois River bluff agricultural county – one of Illinois’s smallest communities where Winchester serves a farming population in the rolling bluff country between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers in traditional western Illinois agricultural landscape.
Winchester (the county seat, population ~1,500) is Scott County’s governmental hub, a small west-central Illinois community on IL-106 serving the county’s farming communities in the Illinois River bluff country.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Scott County Supervisor of Assessments at 35 E. Market Street, Winchester, IL 62694, phone 217-742-3178. IL assessed at 33.33% of market value.
Courts & Legal
Scott County Circuit Court at 35 E. Market Street, Winchester, IL 62694, phone 217-742-3548, 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)
35 E. Market St., Winchester, IL 62694
(217) 742-3172
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
35 E. Market St., Winchester, IL 62694
(217) 742-9214
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
35 E. Market St., Winchester, IL 62694
(217) 742-3172
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Scott County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Scott 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
Scott County Circuit Clerk 35 East Market Street, Winchester, IL 62694 (217) 742-5217 Scott County is one of Illinois’ smaller, rural counties in west-central Illinois.
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 Scott 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 Scott 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
35 E. Market St., Winchester, IL 62694
(217) 742-5554
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
35 E. Market St., Winchester, IL 62694
(217) 742-3172
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
35 E. Market St., Winchester, IL 62694
(217) 742-3172
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Scott County Health Dept
(217) 742-3172
IL DCFS — Jacksonville
(217) 245-3554
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
Passavant Area Hospital (Jacksonville)
passavanthospital.com
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Scott County Health Department – confirm current contact via scottcoil.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Winchester
Population: 5,100
Area: 251 sq mi
Established: 1839
Public Records
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Search public records for Scott County County residents.
