Morgan County built their first county courthouse, a frame building, in 1825. Prior to this, court proceedings were held at various log cabins outside of Jacksonville- in fact Jacksonville had not yet been founded.
In 1828, the county built its second couthouse, constructed out of brick, on the Jacksonville square. It was the first of its kind and was completed in 1830. Abraham Lincoln argued the case of Selby vs Dunlap at the second county courthouse in 1854. By 1868 the second couthouse was torn down and the town square was left open.
G.B. Randall, a Chicago architect, designed the current couthouse in 1867 and the building was completed in 1869.
The design is considered unusual among county courthouses, as counties generally preferred more traditional designs. Randall's design features an arched loggia surrounding the building's southern entrance, asymmetrical towers at the southern corners with mansard roofs and bracketed cornices, arched dormers within the towers' mansards, and an assortment of round-head and bulls-eye windows.
One of the towers houses a 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) bell, which was intended to be part of a clock that was never installed.
The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 19, 1986.
List of Towns and Cities in Morgan County, Illinois:
- Alexander
- Chapin
- Concord
- Franklin
- Jacksonville
- Literberry
- Meredosia
- Murrayville
- Waverly
- Woodson
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An imposing looking building, thanks for sharing
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