This began at the Annual Town Meetings where people from surrounding areas came together to discuss important issues and establish laws. Today townships continue to hold Annual Town Meetings on the second Tuesday in April. In Illinois, township government began in 1849. The Illinois Constitution of 1848 allowed voters in each county to choose to establish township governments or a county commission form of government, without township units. There are currently 1,433 townships in the state serving more than 8 million people.
Townships are individual geographical areas, separate from cities and counties.
For example, a large city may contain several townships while one township may encompass several towns. Township government operates at local levels and is designed to serve the basic needs of the community. In many rural areas, townships are the only unit of government available to provide social services and road maintenance. Naper, Daniel Fish and Erastus Hills then divided DuPage into townships, or towns as they were referred to then. Early in 1850 the legal voters in the township held their first meeting to select a name for the township.