Jackson County: School land, Makanda roads and Murphysboro improvements
Follow school-land petitions, township road decisions and city improvement minutes through selected the IRAD regional depository in Carbondale holdings.
Sources checked October 29, 2026. Holdings checked against official catalogs and repository descriptions. Staff-confirmed details are identified below; other holdings are based on published sources. No name-level search; dates do not guarantee complete coverage or online images.
STOP 01 / SIU IRAD
School land: connect the petition with the recorded sale
A school-land petition and a sale record are separate steps in the same kind of transaction. Compare the land description before linking entries.
School Land Sale Petitions 1836–1853 · Accession 6/0098/01
School Land Sale Record 1836–1861 · Accession 6/0310/04
Which township and section are covered by the petition, and can staff identify a matching sale entry or school plat?
Evidence limit: These are land and administrative sources, not pupil registers. The catalog does not establish a matching petition, sale and plat for every parcel.
Are these arranged by date or road district, and which entries address the road or project in my question?
Evidence limit: A decision and an expenditure are different evidence. Neither proves a road was built exactly as proposed or that an ancestor worked on it.
STOP 03 / SIU IRAD
Murphysboro: follow a public improvement into city decisions
The improvement board’s minutes and council minutes provide two municipal routes for a street, neighborhood or infrastructure question.
Murphysboro: Local Improvements Board Minutes 1904–1929 · Accession 6/0281/05
Murphysboro: City Council Minutes 1867–1948 · Accession 6/0251/01
Murphysboro: City Council Minutes Index 1888–1907 · Accession 6/0281/02
A focused question to ask
Does the index include streets or projects, and how can I trace an improvement-board entry to a council decision?
Evidence limit: The separate index covers only 1888–1907. Do not assume it indexes the full council series or that a proposed improvement was completed.
IRAD is an Illinois Secretary of State program administered by the Illinois State Archives. Depository location: Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Direct IRAD research requests to the regional depository, not the university’s separate archives or special collections.
Call before visiting the IRAD facility in the Library Storage Building, 1835 University Press Drive, Carbondale. It is separate from the main library. Follow the statewide telephone/mail request policy; reduced summer hours and university closures can affect access.
Start with no more than two names, approximate dates, the county and the record type. Include the township or school where known and the accession number above. Ask whether an index exists, which volumes survive and what copying will cost. For an unindexed series, agree on a manageable search before requesting a long period. The statewide policy directs research requests to telephone or mail rather than email; wait for a response before sending another request. See the statewide research policy ↗.
Request template: I am researching [person or place] in [locality] around [years]. Your catalog lists [title], accession [number]. Which volume covers that period, is it indexed, and how can I consult or obtain the relevant pages? Please let me know any gaps, restrictions and copying charges.
Collection dates at a glance
The table lists IRAD series with verified date spans. Community collections above may have different or unspecified coverage and separate access rules. Catalog spans are starting points, not guarantees of every year, locality or individual. Use the Research Planner to compare your years with these cataloged series.
Selected cataloged series for Jackson County
Record series
Catalog dates
Accession
School Land Sale Petitions
1836–1853
6/0098/01
School Land Sale Record
1836–1861
6/0310/04
Plat Record, Schools
1855–1962
6/0272/03
Makanda Twp: Highway Commissioners' Record
1912–1977
6/0477/02
Makanda Twp: Road and Bridge Account Books
1914–1968
6/0477/06
Murphysboro: Local Improvements Board Minutes
1904–1929
6/0281/05
Murphysboro: City Council Minutes
1867–1948
6/0251/01
Murphysboro: City Council Minutes Index
1888–1907
6/0281/02
Keep the record and your interpretation separate.
Save the depository, collection, accession number, volume, page, dates and any copy correspondence. Record uncertain names as uncertain. A shared road, school or signature can suggest an association; it does not establish a family relationship.
Suggest a correction, an overlooked collection or an updated access detail. An official link or source helps us check it before making a change. Please leave out private family documents and sensitive personal information.