Joliet Forestry Department

About forestry service, 60305, River Forest, IL, US, Illinois

Joliet ( JOH-lee-et, -⁠ET) is a city in Will and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. It had a population of 150,362 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Illinois. == History == In 1673, Louis Jolliet, along with Father Jacques Marquette, paddled up the Des Plaines River and camped on a huge earthwork mound, a few miles south of present-day Joliet. Maps from Jolliet's exploration of the area showed a large hill or mound down river from Chicago, labeled Mont Joliet. The mound has since been flattened due to mining. In 1833, following the Black Hawk War, Charles Reed built a cabin along the west side of the Des Plaines River. Across the river in 1834, James B. Campbell, treasurer of the canal commissioners, laid out the village of "Juliet", a corruption of "Joliet" that was also in use at the time. Just before the economic depression of 1837, Juliet incorporated as a village, but to cut tax expenses, Juliet residents soon petitioned the state to rescind that incorporation. In 1845, local residents changed the community's name from "Juliet" to "Joliet", reflecting the original name.