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Illinois · Central Illinois · #429
Tazewell County, Illinois
South of Peoria along the Illinois River, Tazewell County is the quiet backbone of central Illinois manufacturing - Pekin's industrial base, the county's corn and soybean farmland, and a working-class character that resists the suburban softening happening in counties around it.
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Office: Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office – 101 S. Capitol Street, Pekin, IL 61554 | (309) 477-2250 / (309) 346-4141; Sheriff Jeffrey Lower, over 34 years of law enforcement experience. 41 officers serving roughly 128,485-135,000 residents; specialized units include Tactical Operations/SWAT. Participates in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Illinois and the TRIAD Senior Safety initiative.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-155/474 and US-24/9 serve Pekin, the county seat and largest city, on the Illinois River adjacent to Peoria, part of the Peoria-Pekin Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Notes: Tazewell County was established in 1827, named for Littleton Waller Tazewell, a Virginia governor and U.S. Senator (or possibly his father, Henry Tazewell, also a prominent Virginia politician). The county seat moved repeatedly in its early history: Mackinaw (1827-1836), briefly to Pekin in 1831 (with court proceedings held in the Snell schoolhouse), then Tremont (1836), before a political struggle between Tremont and Pekin resulted in Pekin’s permanent designation as county seat in 1849.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Tazewell County Courthouse – 342 Court Street, Pekin, IL (built 1914, Beaux Arts, architects Deal & Ginzel; National Register of Historic Places since 1985, replacing the 1849 courthouse that county government had outgrown).
Notes: Tazewell County’s first jail, built in Mackinaw in 1827 for $325.75, was a two-story hewn-timber structure once considered the strongest and costliest jail in central Illinois – though its very first prisoner, horse thief William Cowhart, still managed to escape. A genuinely dramatic and somber event occurred at the county’s second Pekin jail (built 1852): outlaw William “Ike” Berry, leader of the Berry Gang, was lynched by a mob from a tree in front of the jail on July 31, 1869, after his gang killed Tazewell County Deputy Sheriff Henry Pratt earlier that month – a documented episode of vigilante violence referenced here factually and with care. George Saal, born in Pekin in 1918, served as Tazewell County Sheriff (1950-1954 and 1958-1962) before going on to a long career in the Illinois House of Representatives (1954-1968).
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Tazewell County Veterans Assistance – confirm current contact via tazewell.com.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Pekin Public Library (Pekin) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Tazewell County Courthouse (National Register of Historic Places) and the Illinois River waterfront at Pekin are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine, dramatic history of the county’s repeatedly relocated seat and the 1869 Berry Gang lynching are among the standout local historical facts covered in this project, presented with appropriate care given the violence involved.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Tazewell County Assessor’s Office – confirm current contact via tazewell.com.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current dedicated shelter contact via tazewell.com; Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office for animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Tazewell County Environmental Health – confirm current contact via tazewell.com.
NOTES: Tazewell County is the eighty-first county completed in Illinois’s Round 3 v2 redo, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, dramatic history of the county’s repeatedly relocated seat and its 19th-century law-enforcement history are among the standout local historical facts covered in this project, presented with appropriate care. 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 Tazewell County
Tazewell County sits in the shadow of Peoria County to the north but has its own distinct economic identity. Pekin, the county seat, is a river city on the Illinois River with a strong industrial history – Corn Products International (now Ingredion), one of the world’s largest corn wet milling companies, has operated a major facility in Pekin for more than a century, processing corn into starch, glucose, and food ingredients. The plant is one of the largest employers in the county and connects Tazewell to global food ingredient supply chains in a way that makes the local corn harvest directly economically consequential.
The county’s communities range from Pekin’s working-class industrial character to the smaller communities of East Peoria, Morton, and Washington that function partly as Peoria suburbs. Morton has developed a reputation as the “Pumpkin Capital of the World” – a substantial share of the canned pumpkin sold in America is processed in Morton, and the annual Morton Pumpkin Festival draws visitors from across the region. Caterpillar’s presence in nearby Peoria extends into Tazewell County through supplier and workforce relationships. The Illinois River bottomlands and the county’s productive upland farmland give Tazewell an agricultural productivity that supports both direct farm employment and the processing industries built around it.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Illinois assesses property at 33.33% of fair market value; Tazewell County conducts triennial reassessments. Property owners may appeal to the Board of Review within 30 days of assessment publication. The Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption reduces assessed value by $8,000; the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze applies to residents 65+ with household income at or below $65,000. Illinois has an estate tax on estates above $4 million; no Illinois inheritance tax.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging
700 Hamilton Boulevard, Peoria, IL 61603
Phone: (309) 674-2071
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, legal assistance, and long-term care options counseling for Tazewell County residents.
Senior Services
Central Illinois Area Agency on Aging
700 Hamilton Boulevard, Peoria, IL 61603
Phone: (309) 674-2071
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, caregiver support, legal assistance, and long-term care options counseling for Tazewell County residents.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
11 S. 4th St., Pekin, IL 61554
(309) 477-2264
CIRCUIT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
342 Court St., Pekin, IL 61554
(309) 477-2214
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
11 S. 4th St., Pekin, IL 61554
(309) 477-2264
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Tazewell County Circuit Clerk (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Tazewell County Clerk and Recorder, McKenzie Bldg., 2nd Fl., 11 S. 4th St., Ste. 203, Pekin, IL 61554, (309) 477-2264 – separate office holding vital records.
Local societies
No dedicated Tazewell 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
Tazewell County Circuit Clerk (10th Judicial Circuit) 342 Court Street, Room 204, Pekin, IL 61554 (309) 477-2214
Tazewell County was founded January 31, 1827, named for Littleton Waller Tazewell, a Virginia lawyer, Governor, Congressman, and U.S. Senator. It is one of the more populous IL counties outside the Chicago and St. Louis metro areas. The 1914 Beaux Arts Tazewell County Courthouse (National Register of Historic Places) replaced an 1849 predecessor.
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 Tazewell 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 Tazewell 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
105 S. Capitol St., Pekin, IL 61554
(309) 477-2268
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Vital Records, Elections)
11 S. 4th St., Pekin, IL 61554
(309) 477-2264
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
11 S. 4th St., Pekin, IL 61554
(309) 477-2264
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Tazewell County Health Dept
(309) 477-2290
IL DCFS — Pekin
(309) 353-7600
IL Medicaid
(800) 843-6154
OSF Saint Francis Medical Center (Peoria — adjacent)
osfhealthcare.org
UnityPoint Health — Proctor (Peoria)
unitypoint.org
OSF Heart of Jesus Medical Center (Pekin)
osfhealthcare.org/heart-of-jesus
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Tazewell County Health Department – confirm current contact via tazewell.com.
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Editorial Trust
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Reviewed by CountyOffices Editorial Team
Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Pekin
Population: 132,000
Area: 658 sq mi
Established: 1827
Tier: 3
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Tazewell County facilities via Amazon.
