Kankakee County was considered the perfect place to live by the Potawatomi Indians long before the ever-increasing westward migration of white settlers replaced them. For here was a rolling landscape with a beautiful river thickly bordered with groves of oak, hickory, maple, cedar and black walnut. With the land sloping in places gently to the water's edge and in others rising in sheer limestone bluffs many feet above the river, and the abundant wildlife that inhabited the area, no more beautiful or varied scenery could be found in the Middle West than in Kankakee County.

Settlers came to Kankakee County in 1834, after the federal government signed the treaty of Camp Tippecanoe in 1832. As word spread about the government acquiring the land, many immigrants from New York and Vermont moved their way west, mostly locating in Momence, IL. An act of the Illinois Legislature created Kankakee County out of the northern part of Iroquois County and the southern part of Will County on February 11, 1853. The six original townships were: Yellowhead, Rockville, Bourbonnais, Momence, Aroma and Limestone. The population of the new county was about 8,000. It wasn't until 1855 that the two western townships of Norton and Essex were taken from Vermilion County and added to Kankakee County.

In the mid 1800s David Bradley started Bradley Plow Works, later called the Bradley Factory. He manufactured farm implements and is known for the Bradley Plan. In early 1900's, David Bradley's grandson B. Harley Bradley, built a home designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1891, North Kankakee was incorporated and named Bradley.

The City of Kankakee grew in the shadow of Bourbonnais, a French settlement nearby. Kankakee nonetheless became the eventual seat of government for Kankakee County, and in 1855 became the site of a depot on the Illinois Central Railroad. By 1900 its population had grown to about 13,500. Kankakee County's population is currently over 110,000 and growing.

Three Illinois governors (Len Small, Samuel Shapiro and George Ryan) were originally from Kankakee.

The Kankakee River runs 57 miles through Kankakee County and is a clean river, great for landing Small Mouth Bass, Channel Catfish, Walleye and Northern Pike. 12 boat launches, 8 campgrounds and 18 riverfront parks are only a small part of the fun on the Kankakee River.