Of the 102 counties of the state of Illinois, 84 are organized into civil townships, usually referred to as simply "townships" in state law. All told, Illinois has 1,428 such townships, and they are the slight majority of the state's general units of local government.[1]
The legal name of each township is the form "___ Township" or "Town of ____".[2] State law specifies that no two townships in Illinois shall have the same name,[3] and that, if the Illinois Secretary of State compares the township abstracts and finds a duplicate, the county that last adopted the name shall instead adopt a different name at the next county board meeting.[4] Nonetheless, many township names remain duplicates in Illinois.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Inventorywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Township Corporate Powers, Generally (60 ILCS 1/85). Retrieved 2012-05-14.
- ^ Township names (60 ILCS 1/5-40). Retrieved 2012-05-14.
- ^ Duplicate township names (60 ILCS 1/5-55). Retrieved 2012-05-14.