Editing Edwards County, Illinois (section)

==History==
Edwards County was named for [[Ninian Edwards]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n114 115]}}</ref> the governor of the Illinois Territory, and, later, governor of Illinois.

Edwards County is subdivided into "Road Districts", rather than "[[Township (United States)|Townships]]" as in most Illinois counties. Pursuant to the [[Land Ordinance of 1785]], the [[Northwest Territory]] (including Illinois) was surveyed and mostly organized into townships that are six miles square; but Edwards County was settled prior to that survey, and its pre-existing Road Districts do not generally correspond with the survey's townships.

<gallery>
File:Edwards County Illinois 1815.png|Edwards County, when it was created in 1815 from [[Gallatin County, Illinois|Gallatin]] and [[Madison County, Illinois|Madison]] Counties, extended north to Lake Michigan.
File:Edwards County Illinois 1816.png|The county between 1816 and 1819. [[Clark County, Illinois|Clark]] and [[White County, Illinois|White]] Counties were created from Edwards and [[Gallatin County, Illinois|Gallatin]] Counties.
File:Edwards County Illinois 1819.png|The county between 1819 and 1821. At this point [[Crawford County, Illinois|Crawford County]] was split off from Edwards, and [[Wayne County, Illinois|Wayne]] Counties.
File:Edwards County Illinois 1821.png|Edwards between 1821 and 1824
File:Edwards County Illinois 1824.png|Edwards in 1824, reduced to its current size by the creation of [[Wabash County, Illinois|Wabash County]]
</gallery>