CIVIC INFORMATION
township is a political and geographical subdivision of a county and state. It is a municipal corporate body that can own property, sue and be sued, borrow money and levy taxes in accordance with state statutes. A township’s elected officials may act for the electorate in the township’s name when conducting business.
Lake County is divided into 18 townships. Generally, there are eight officers in each township, elected for terms of four years: Supervisor, Clerk, Assessor, Highway Commissioner and four Trustees. All townships are required to provide welfare assistance and property assessment. Townships also may establish libraries, medical clinics, museums, community buildings, recreation districts, mental health facilities, cemeteries and youth committees.
Township government originated in the mid-1600s. Illinois in 1787 was included in the Northwest Territory in which Congress designated counties and townships in a broad area of mostly unsettled land. The second Illinois Constitution, adopted in 1848, gave counties the option to include townships in their governmental structure.
Lake County was established east of the Fox River on March 1, 1839. County offices were opened April, 1841 at Little Fort (Waukegan). Most Illinois counties, including Lake, chose the township system in a general election in 1849.
Lake Forest/ Lake Bluff Townships
SHIELDS TOWNSHIP
906 W. Muir Avenue Lake Bluff 60044-1588
Gale Strenger Wayne, Supervisor Phone: 234-0802
www.shieldstownship.com
Hours: M – F, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm Second Saturdays of each month: 9 am – Noon
Passports Available
■ Shields Township held its first meeting in April 1850. At that meeting Michael C. McGuire was elected the first Supervisor of the township. Shields Township, which includes a majority of Lake Forest, all of Lake Bluff and Knollwood and part of North Chicago, was named in honor of General James Shields, a hero in the Mexican War of 1846-47. At the time of the naming in 1850, General Shields was a U.S. Senator from Illinois.
MORAINE TOWNSHIP
777 Central Avenue Highland Park 60035
Mari Barnes, Supervisor Phone: 432-3240
www.morainetownship.org
■ Deerfield Township was officially established in April 1850. The township includes most of Highland Park, all of Highwood, precincts 67 and 68 in Lake Forest and precinct 87 in Deerfield.
LIBERTYVILLE TOWNSHIP
359 Merrill Court Libertyville 60048
Kathleen O'Connor, Supervisor Phone: 816-6800
www.libertyvilletownship.us
■ Libertyville Township was formed by an election on January 12, 1850. The area being rural, the township’s initial main concerns were road maintenance, control of weeds, stray animals, drainage ditches, fence lines and education. This township includes the villages of Libertyville, Mettawa, Green Oaks and portions of Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Lake Forest, Waukegan and North Chicago.
WEST DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP
601 Deerfield Road Deerfield 60015
Julie A. Morrison, Supervisor Phone: 945-0614
www.westdeerfieldtownship.org
■ West Deerfield Township was formed from a division of Deerfield Township in an election in 1889. The division arose primarily out of a conflict over high school taxes. The township includes all of Deerfield and Bannockburn, plus portions of Lake Forest, Highland Park and Riverwoods.
VERNON TOWNSHIP
3050 Main Street Buffalo Grove 60069
William E. Peterson, Supervisor Phone: 634-4600
www.vernontownship.com
■ In 1833, Captain Daniel Wright settled in what is now Vernon Township. He is noted as the first white settler in Lake County. Prior to that, the only white men were trappers and traders passing through the area. Local historians have concluded that Captain Wright, being from Mt. Vernon, may have caused the township to be named Vernon.
22 | 2012 LFLB COMMUNITY GUIDE
■ Vernon Township Pool. Rob Dicker for STM.
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