Unlike most of Illinois, much ofNorthern Illinois was not submerged in ashallow prehistoric sea. As a result, bedrock found in the area now bounded as Boone County is almost entirelyOrdovician, as opposed to nearby counties likeMcHenry andCarroll which contain large areas of laterSilurian bedrock.Till andoutwash from theIllinoian glaciation covers area bedrock to a depth of several hundred feet. The county's proximity to thedriftless area protected the region somewhat from the more recentWisconsin glaciation. As a result, the county's northern townships resemble a driftless-like area, with higher peak elevations and more surface detail compared to the southern townships dominated by the broad flood plains of theKishwaukee River and its tributaries.
By the time of the first identified human settlements, the region was made up of thickly wooded forested hills and grassy prairie plains. Archeological study at theKoster Site seems to indicate that humans had established complex societies ten thousand years ago along the river basins of the Illinois and Mississippi. By the time of European exploration,Upper Mississippian culture collapsed; westward expansion forced manyAlgonquin-speaking nations into conflict with each other as they moved after encroachment of their lands.Potowatomi andMascouten tribes were still living in the region when white settlers arrived and statehood was declared in 1818.
As a political institution, Boone County was formed on March 3, 1836, out ofWinnebago County. It was named forKentucky frontiersmanDaniel Boone.[3]The first non-Native American settlers arrived in what is now Boone County in 1835. They arrived as a result of the end of theBlack Hawk War as well as the completion of theErie Canal. They consisted entirely of settlers fromNew England. These were "Yankee" settlers, that is to say they were descended from theEnglishPuritans who settledNew England in the colonial era. They were primarily members of theCongregational Church though due to theSecond Great Awakening many of them had converted toMethodism and some had becomeBaptists before coming to what is now Boone County. When theNew England settlers arrived in what is now Boone County there was nothing but a dense virgin forest and wild prairie. In the late 1870s immigrants began arriving fromGermany andIreland.[4]
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 282.039 square miles (730.48 km2) (99.5%), of which 280.741 square miles (727.12 km2) is land and 1.298 square miles (3.36 km2) (0.5%) is water.[5]
In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Belvidere have ranged from a low of 11 °F (−12 °C) in January to a high of 85 °F (29 °C) in July, although a record low of −29 °F (−34 °C) was recorded in January 1979 and a record high of 109 °F (43 °C) was recorded in July 1936. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 1.29 inches (33 mm) in February to 4.56 inches (116 mm) in June.[6]
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 53,448. The median age was 39.9 years. 25.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.2% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.0 males age 18 and over.[13]
70.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 29.4% lived in rural areas.[15] There were 19,109 households in the county, of which 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 56.6% were married-couple households, 15.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 21.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 20,157 housing units, of which 5.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 78.4% were owner-occupied and 21.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.6%.[13]
Boone County, Illinois – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the2010 United States Census, there were 54,165 people, 18,799 households, and 13,580 families residing in the county. The population density was 189.5 inhabitants per square mile (73.2/km2). There were 20,157 housing units at an average density of 71.5 per square mile (27.6/km2). The most common reported ancestries wereGerman (23.7%),Irish (11.7%),Italian (7.4%), andSwedish (7.4%).[25]
Of the 18,799 households, 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.5% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.8% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.33.
The county's age distribution consisted of 24.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 23.1% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.0 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $70.396 and the median income for a family was $84,450. Males had a median income of $50,213 versus $30,219 for females. The per capita income for the county was $32,659. About 5.0% of families and 8.2% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 10.5% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.[26]
Boone County is located in the Boone-Winnebago County Regional Office of Education #4.[28]
Boone County, with neighboringWinnebago County, is located inIllinois's 17th Judicial Circuit. The entirety of Boone County, along with portions of southeastern Winnebago County, is in the third subcircuit.[29]
As a historicYankee settlement, Boone County in its early years was a major base for theFree Soil Party, being one of nine Illinois counties to vote forMartin van Buren in 1848. Its Free Soil affinities meant Boone became one of the first strongholds of the Republican Party and remained overwhelmingly Republican for the following century, although it did vote forProgressiveTheodore Roosevelt in 1912 when the Republican Party was severely split. Between at least 1892 and 1928 no Democratic presidential candidate ever managed twenty percent of the county's vote, and in the century up to 1960 no Democrat reached thirty percent – a degree of GOP loyalty comparable to such famous bastions asOwsley County in Kentucky,Grant County in West Virginia, orAvery County in North Carolina. EvenBarry Goldwater, who alienated the Yankee Northeast so much as to lose all but one county there, still won Boone County by 15.6 percentage points, and between 1968 and 1988 no Democrat did better thanJimmy Carter’s 40.2 percent.
The shift of the Republican Party towards an expanded Southern and Western base, and particularly its growing strength with social conservatives, alienated the Yankee North during the 1990s and 2000s, but Boone County remained in Republican hands. The candidacy ofRoss Perot in 1992 and 1996 causedGeorge H. W. Bush andBob Dole both to win Boone County with mere pluralities againstBill Clinton, and in 2008, Illinois residentBarack Obama became the only Democrat to carry the county sinceJames K. Polk in 1844. The 2010s have seen a reversal of this Democratic trend due to concern over employment declines in the “Rust Belt."
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