Get Involved

Board Meetings & Quarterly Programs 

The Hancock County Historical Society Officers and Board of Directors meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 3:15 pm. at the Hancock County Historical Society Center for a Board Meeting. These meetings are open to the public to attend.

The Hancock County Historical Society also holds quarterly meetings on the third Saturday during the months of February, April, July and October at 7:00 pm at the Senior Citizen Center at 301 Main St, Carthage IL. The meetings are free, open to the public and refreshments are included. Historic program topics relate to Hancock County pioneers, our counties heritage, culture, and historic development over the course of time.

Become A Member

Annual Membership

Includes quarterly newsletter. 
$10 per year, billed annually.
Purchase Annual

Lifetime Membership

Includes quarterly newsletter. 
$125, billed in a single installment.
Purchase Lifetime
Memberships may also be purchased directly at the Historical Society offices. Make checks payable to the Hancock County Historical Society and mail to us at the following address:

Hancock County Historical Society
Attn: Membership
306 Walnut Street
Carthage, IL. 62321 – 0068

Newsletter

The society publishes a quarterly newspaper that is free to members and upon request for a minimal fee. Members who receive it have told us it is most beneficial in learning, not only about the county history, but also from the wealth of information they have gleaned about specific families featured within its pages. It is full of interesting and, sometimes, little known facts and many surprises.
Hancock County is located about forty miles north of the center of the state, on its west line, and within what was known as the “Military Bounty Land Tract.” Adams County line is to the south, McDonough and Schuyler to the east and Henderson to the north. Its western boundary is the channel of the Mississippi River. Directly across the river and to the north is the state of Iowa and across the river to the south is the state of Missouri. The county is 30 miles long, 24 miles wide and constitutes 795 square miles. It contains 25 townships that were designed to be 6 square miles each although due to the irregular nature of those with boundaries on the river, there are a few exceptions. The central part of the county is composed of prairie land and rich soil needed for productive agriculture. “Crooked Creek” (a.k.a. LaMoine River) and Bear Creek provide needed water to the pioneers who settled inland.
The county also contains rich sources of limestone found along the river bluffs in the county from Henderson County on the north, to the town of Warsaw to the south. . Today, visitors delight in seeing the replication of the original Nauvoo Mormon Temple which historical accounts report as built of this limestone.

As early as 1840 or ’41,’ a deposit of geodes was found in the vicinity of the now non-existent village of Montebello, north of the present town of Hamilton. Today, rock collectors still find fascination with these, and other rocks and fossils found in the area. Tourists will also find Eagle watching near the Mississippi River Bridge between Hamilton, IL and Keokuk, Iowa in the winter months. In mid January the tri-state area hosts a celebration of not only the eagle watching, other forms of river wildlife, and also Native American culture and a variety of related arts and crafts.