Sublett already knew how the struggle concluded, having examined, years before, a map depicting the 17 small, lightly populated, generally peripheral counties that still subscribe to the earlier county government and still function under the lead of county commissioners. Starting in 1990, Sublett’s primary research focused on the evolution and diffusion of the civil-political township in Illinois. Among other differences, this form of county government offers vital services at a reasonable cost to taxpayers.

Initially, Sublett anticipated only an archival-based investigation using mainly old newspapers and government documents from the nineteenth century. His lengthy research project led him back as far as the 1790s but mainly focused on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including coverage of abolition attempts  between 1990 and 2000. Much to his surprise, contemporary controversy over township abolition in several counties intensified as he researched the township history. Sublett says, “I emphasize persistence [in the book] because, despite dozens of ballot challenges, township government has almost always survived and lives on into the new century.”

Sublett has been a faculty member in the Department of Geography since 1970 and served as Department Chair for 10 years. He has earned the Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award from the National Council for Geographic Education and has been named Distinguished Geographic Educator by Illinois Geographical Society. His publications include Township; Paper Counties: The Illinois Experience, 1825-1867; East Central Illinois: A Look into the Future; Farmers on the Road, 1939-1969; and Commentary on a Corn Belt Countryside; as well as multiple articles, atlases, reports, maps, and professional papers.