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Owing to its role in the state's history, the county motto is "Where Illinois Began." It contains the historically important village of Kaskaskia, Illinois's first capital.
The county is part of Southern Illinois in the southern portion of the state known locally as "Little Egypt", and includes fertile river flats.
Randolph County was organized in 1795 out of a part of St. Clair County. It was named in honor of Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia. George Rogers Clark of the army of Virginia captured the area from the British on July 4, 1778, near the end of the Revolutionary War.
The Mississippi River has played a prominent role in the county's history, altering its boundaries in 1881 when it severed the isthmus that connected Kaskaskia to the Illinois mainland, destroying the original village of Kaskaskia and forcing its historic cemetery to be relocated across the river to Fort Kaskaskia. Crains Island, southeast of Chester, is another enclave of Illinois west of the Mississippi that was created by a change in the river's course.
Adjacent Counties
- Monroe County
- St. Clair County
- Ste. Genevieve County, Misso.
- Perry County
- Jackson County
- Perry County, Misso.
- Washington County
Cities & Villages
- Baldwin
- Chester
- Coulterville
- Ellis Grove
- Evansville
- Kaskaskia
- Percy
- Prairie du Rocher
- Red Bud
- Rockwood
- Ruma
- Sparta
- Steeleville
- Tilden
Other Communities: Blair, Bremen, Dozaville, Eden, Fort de Chartres, Fort Gage, Grigg, Houston, Leanderville, Marigold, Menard, Modoc, New Palestine, Prairie, Preston, Relly Lake, Schuline, Shiloh Hill, Walsh, Welge and Wine Hill
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