The Macoupin County Courthouse is a grand and huge structure for such a small county, 47,000 population. In the 1860's, the price of a courthouse costing over a million dollars sounds unthinkable but it was built and still stands off the square in Carlinville as the largest courthouse of its time. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Sites.
Courthouse
Early 1900s
courtesy of M. Trover
Courthouse
courtesy of Annette Miner
Courthouse
showing iron fence
courtesy of Anne Michael
Courthouse
Courtesy of Wayne Hinton
The Macoupin County Courthouse, located in the county seat,
Carlinville, is a 191-foot architectural phenomenon from the nineteenth
century. The landmark was completed in 1870 at an approximate cost of
$1,380,500. Some aspects of the construction are still shrouded in
mystery. In comparison to the building's cost, one notes that the total
value of assessed property in the county in 1860 was $5,097,589. Most of
the material for the courthouse was hauled to the site on flat cars
drawn by oxen. The Chicago & Alton Railroad put in a switch from the
main rail, and the spur became known as the "ox railroad."
According to a survey by St. Louis architect Earl Fey, "the courthouse
is of a Century Victorian Classic Revival style. As such, it lacks the
archaeological precision of the works of professional architects of a
little later era, but also avoids their tendency towards sterility. The
building may be termed either Italiante or French Second Empire, but it
is not always easy to make this distinction, short of a definitve
feature which would definitely establish the style."
The
structure is contemporary with Mullett's St. Louis Custom House (Old
Post Office) in St. Louis, to which it bears a stylistic affinity. The
exterior detailing is definitely Roman, in contrast to the Greek Revival
prevalent in this area up to the time of the Civil War.
The
Monumental Corinthian Order of the corner pilasters and porticoes is
rather accurately detailed. General proportions of the main building
mass and the relationship of dome to the rest of the building tend to
make the structure appear awkwardly tall . . . judged by accepted
standards of ancient and Renaissance architecture. This is an instance
of nineteenth century striving for originality. The soaring effect of
the building thus seems more outstanding when viewed with respect to the
low-rising structures surrounding it.
Fey said the building
"defies reproduction." Every door in the building is made of iron, each
weighing about one ton. Window frames are of iron. Magnesian limestone
covers the rectangle building, 181 feet in length and 80 feet wide,
crossed in equal distance from the north to the south ends by a
transverse rectangle of smaller dimensions. The plan resembles an
elongated Swiss cross, or the cross of St. George, of double width.
The building is divided into three floors. The basement is 12 feet
high, the main floor 16, and the upper floor, used as a courtroom, is 32
feet high. Supporting the roof of the portico are four Corinthian
columns 40 feet in height, 3 feet in diameter at the base, and 3 1/2
feet at the top. Floors of the building are laid with tile. The upper
floor is reached by two wide iron stairways at the right and left as one
enters the building from the north. At the south end of the main
corridor is a stairway leading up to the rear of the courtroom, and also
to the fourth floor, just under the dome. To be noted on taking the
first step up the southside stairway are the "pelicans" of iron holding
up part of the metalwork. The front stairways are ornamented with
flowers done in iron and other designs. The balustrade of the main
stairway at the north are ornamented with wolf and dog heads done in
iron. On the front of each of the double iron doors opening into the
courtroom is a lion's head with a large ring in its mouth, a symbol of
the majesty of the law.
One has a feeling of grandeur on entering
the Circuit Court chamber. The focal point is the raised judge's chair
mounted on a track behind the massive vari-colored marble bench, flanked
on each side by a pair of massive Corinthian columns, replicas of the
outside porticoes. Capping these columns is a massive pediment cresting
a portico treatment which, along with the dome above, lends a sense of
majestic authority to judicial proceedings in the courtroom. The
hand-carved walnut judge's chair is seven feet in height. Lions are
carved in each of the huge arm rests. When built in 1869, it was
reported to have cost $1500. For a great number of years, the immense
chair was stored in one of the alcoves where it gradually disintegrated
and almost fell to pieces. The Carlinville Woman's Club had it
reupholstered. The old track on which the chair runs also was repaired
for use, and the chair was rededicated in a ceremony when Judge F. W.
Burton was on the bench in 1925.
Electric lights were installed
in the office of the County Superintendent of Schools in January 1927.
Extracted from The Story Of Macoupin County 1829-1979, by Pat Hauter, published in 1979.
Courtesy Wayne Hinton
All rights reserved
Springfield IL Journal Register
22 April 2017
Courtesy of Linda Kmiecik
The 1869 Macoupin County Jail, located just south of the courthouse, in Carlinville, served the County well as a jail from 1869 to 1988. The tiny "prison" designed by architect E. E. Meyers, the same architect who designed the majestic Macoupin County Courthouse, is a unique medieval inspired fortress. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.
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This page was last updated
07/01/2022