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Office: Stark County Sheriff’s Office – 130 W. Jefferson Street, Toulon, IL 61483 | (309) 286-2541. Jail capacity 15 beds, located behind the courthouse. The office handles both traditional law enforcement and animal control/cruelty investigations for the county; hours 24/7.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: SR-17 serves Toulon, the county seat, part of the Peoria Metropolitan Area and the northwestern terminus of the Rock Island Trail State Park.
Notes: Stark County was formed in 1839 from Knox and Putnam Counties, named for General/Colonel John Stark, a Continental Army officer during the Revolutionary War, celebrated as the “Hero of Bennington” for his decisive service at the 1777 Battle of Bennington.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Stark County Courthouse – 130 West Main Street, Toulon, IL (built 1856-1857, Greek Revival, cost $12,000; the second courthouse in county history).
Notes: The Stark County Illinois Historical Society (318 W. Jefferson, Toulon, PO Box 524) preserves local genealogical and historical records, including archives on past county sheriffs, and is open Tuesdays 2-4 PM and Saturdays 10 AM-Noon.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Stark County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via starkco.illinois.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Toulon Public Library (Toulon) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Stark County Courthouse (Greek Revival), the Rock Island Trail State Park (northwestern terminus at Toulon), and the Stark County Illinois Historical Society are the county’s premier heritage and recreational attractions.
Notes: Stark County is a genuinely small, rural community – Toulon’s 2020 population was just 1,193 – with the Rock Island Trail providing a notable regional recreational resource.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Stark County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via starkco.illinois.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Stark County Sheriff’s Office handles animal control and cruelty investigations directly – (309) 286-2541.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Stark County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via starkco.illinois.gov.
NOTES: Stark County is the seventy-ninth county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The county’s genuine small-town character and its role as the Rock Island Trail’s northwestern terminus are among the 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 Stark County County
Stark County is north-central Illinois’s Spoon River Anthology and prairie agricultural county – the Spoon River valley that inspired one of American literature’s most celebrated collections and the flat corn and soybean farming landscape define a small county where Toulon serves the surrounding agricultural communities in the quietly rural central Illinois prairie.
Toulon (the county seat, population ~1,300) is Stark County’s governmental hub, a small north-central Illinois agricultural community on IL-91 whose Spoon River heritage, corn belt productivity, and traditional county seat character anchor its identity.
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Stark County Supervisor of Assessments at 130 W. Main Street, Toulon, IL 61483, phone 309-286-5941. IL assessed at 33.33% of market value.
Courts & Legal
Stark County Circuit Court at 130 W. Main Street, Toulon, IL 61483, phone 309-286-5941, 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)
130 W. Main St., Toulon, IL 61483
(309) 286-5941
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
130 W. Main St., Toulon, IL 61483
(309) 286-4479
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
130 W. Main St., Toulon, IL 61483
(309) 286-5941
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Stark County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Stark 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
Stark County Circuit Clerk 130 West Main Street, P.O. Box 426, Toulon, IL 61483 (309) 286-5941 Stark County is one of Illinois’ smallest and most rural counties, in north-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 Stark 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 Stark 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
130 W. Main St., Toulon, IL 61483
(309) 286-4411
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
130 W. Main St., Toulon, IL 61483
(309) 286-5941
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
130 W. Main St., Toulon, IL 61483
(309) 286-5941
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Stark County Health Dept
(309) 286-5911
IL DCFS — Peoria
(309) 671-7900
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
OSF Saint Francis Medical Center (Peoria)
osfhealthcare.org
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Stark County Health Department – confirm current contact via starkco.illinois.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Toulon
Population: 5,400
Area: 288 sq mi
Established: 1839
Public Records
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