McHenry County Journal

Recorder's Office - Joseph J. Tirio, McHenry County Recorder

Font Size: + -

Feedback Print

On June 1, 1837, the Board of County Commissioners for the newly created County of McHenry met for the first time. This Board established precincts (townships would come later), set the rate for taxable property, and began the process of laying out roads and determining the location for the county seat. Up until 1839, both Lake and McHenry Counties were combined into one. In 2010, the original leather-bound first volume of the McHenry County Commissioners’ Court Minutes resurfaced with this information and much more. No one knows how long it had been missing but it was returned to the Recorder’s Office by a private party from Springfield, Illinois. The records in the journal date from June 1, 1837 to March 10, 1848. Without a doubt, this volume is McHenry County’s most significant single historical record. It recorded the original decisions, policies and framework that established McHenry County and is a rare record of this county’s origins.

Journal - Years 1837-1842 *large pdf file may take time to download*
Journal - Years 1843-1848 *large pdf file may take time to download*

On June 1, 2010, a public ceremony and dedication of this significant historical record was given at the County Board meeting.

DVDImage1

The original Journal 1 as found...

JournalPic1_Lg

JournalOpen_Lg

Scanning Journal 1

DVD's were made and presented to the McHenry County Libraries...

JournalDVDCover_Lg

Dolly Gibson, Administrative Supervisor; Nancy Fike, Administrator, McHenry County Historical Society Museum; and Phyllis K. Walters, McHenry County Recorder take the first look at Journal 1 December 2009

JournalGroup1_Lg

Nancy Fike, Administrator, McHenry County Historical Society Museum; Phyllis K. Walters, McHenry County Recorder; and Recorder's Office Staff are all excited at seeing Journal 1 for the first time!

Phyllis K. Walters, McHenry County Recorder, with the original cover and Ken Koehler, Chairman of the McHenry County Board, with the Journal 1's new cover.

JournalRestored_Lg