Editing Cook County, Illinois (section)

==History==
Cook County was created on January 15, 1831, out of [[Putnam County, Illinois|Putnam County]] by an act of the [[Illinois General Assembly]]. It was the 54th county established in Illinois and was named after [[Daniel Pope Cook]], one of the earliest and youngest statesmen in Illinois history. He served as the second [[List of United States representatives from Illinois|U.S. representative from Illinois]] and the state's first [[Illinois Attorney General|attorney general]]. In 1839, [[DuPage County, Illinois|DuPage County]] was carved out of Cook County.
<!-- The county containing 40% of the state's population needs an expanded history section -->
<gallery>
File:Cook County Illinois 1831.png|Cook County from 1831 to 1836
File:Cook County Illinois 1836.png|Cook County 1836–1839 after the creation of [[McHenry County, Illinois|McHenry]] and [[Will County, Illinois|Will]] counties
File:Cook County Illinois 1839.png|Cook County's current size was formed in 1839 by the creation of [[DuPage County, Illinois|DuPage County]]
</gallery>

The shape of Cook County and the neighboring counties has remained the same since DuPage County was formed. The population in each county and the split of agriculture compared to residential and industrial activity has changed dramatically over the intervening decades to 2020. The county began with 10,201 people in the census of 1840, growing rapidly to 5,150,233	people estimated for 2019 by the US census. Growth was rapid in the 19th century, with the County reaching 2.4 million people by 1910. In the 20th century, the County reached 5.1 million population.

Cook County is nearly completely developed, with little agricultural land remaining near the outer county boundaries.<ref>{{cite book |author=National Academy of Sciences|title=Growing Populations, Changing Landscapes: Studies from India, China, and the United States|year=2001 |page=278|doi=10.17226/10144 |isbn=978-0-309-07554-1 |url=https://www.nap.edu/read/10144/chapter/20#278 |access-date=November 15, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=November 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115174434/https://www.nap.edu/read/10144/chapter/20#278 |url-status=live }}</ref>