Front, pictured three months after opening

The Union County Courthouse is a government building in central Jonesboro, the county seat of Union County, Illinois, United States. Built in 2013, it replaced a brick structure whose core predated the Civil War.

Early history

Europeans first reached the vicinity of Union County by means of a French expedition under Jolliet and Marquette in 1673; they are unlikely to have landed within Union County's current boundaries, but they are known to have explored the lower end of the Upper Mississippi River.[1]: 264  The first settlement, consisting of two families who built cabins near the present site of Jonesboro in 1803, was followed by a second settlement in the American Bottom in 1805, at which time the area was yet part of Johnson County.[1]: 266  Hills in the area attracted some settlement in 1811 by refugees from the New Madrid Earthquake seeking stable ground,[1]: 283  but even at the end of the War of 1812, the white man was much less numerous than the red in this part of the Illinois Territory.[1]: 268  Union County was formed by a law of January 1818, which specified the location at which the county officials should meet before selecting a county seat.[1]: 285  Just two months later, the officials accepted the donation of land at the present site of Jonesboro, and a rude log courthouse was quickly erected by one Thomas Cox. Although the frontiersmen advocated for such a simple building, holding that justice could be dispensed equally in primitive buildings and grand, a frame courthouse was built in 1820 to replace the original.[2]

Jonesboro and Anna

Jonesboro flourished into the 1850s, but the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad posed a new challenge: the company's engineers requested a plat map of the community, but none being furnished, they bypassed the county seat by a mile, and the new community of Anna was established between Jonesboro and the railroad line. Improved transportation caused Anna to prosper,[2] and it began to challenge Jonesboro for prominence in Union County. After an unsuccessful attempt to provide for a county-seat vote in 1868 via the state legislature, Anna partisans petitioned the county court for redress in 1870, but their petition was rejected, and the challenge gradually subsided.[1]: 316 

Architectural history

By the mid-1830s, the frame courthouse of 1820 had become insufficient, and the county government ordered its removal and the construction of a brick replacement on the same lot;[2] the project was completed in 1838 at a cost of $5,000. Although the building was quite fine for the period, it was left altogether unmaintained, and the necessity of constructing a fourth courthouse began to appear before the eyes of the county officials.[1]: 360  The General Assembly passed an act in early 1853 permitting Union County to borrow $5,000 for construction (not many years after a similar act had permitted the county to borrow $1,000 to repair the previous building),[1]: 317  and the replacement building opened in 1858 at a final cost of $12,000.[1]: 360  Two stories tall with a taller central section, the building featured a small tower atop the stepped facade. In 1963, the county expanded the building by adding a two-story stone section to each side.[2] Despite these additions, the county outgrew the building within half a century, forcing some departments to use offices in other buildings, and more than $10 million in bonds was issued in 2012 to enable the construction of a replacement and the demolition of the old building. Its architects were the St. Louis office of HOK.[3] The replacement opened in August 2013.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Perrin, William H., ed. History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski counties, Illinois. Chicago: Baskin, 1883.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Weiser, Dennis. Illinois courthouses: an illustrated history. Virginia Beach: Donning, 2009, 144.
  3. ↑ Stewart, Brent. "After 154 years...Union County will get modern courthouse, The Southern Illinoisan, 2012-05-31. Accessed 2017-08-02.
  4. ↑ Malkovich, Becky. "Union County welcomes new courthouse", The Southern Illinoisan, 2013-08-25. Accessed 2017-08-02.

37°27′10″N 89°16′18″W / 37.45278°N 89.27167°W / 37.45278; -89.27167

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