The Fayette County Courthouse is a government building in
Vandalia, the
county seat of
Fayette County,
Illinois,
United States. Converted from a residence in the 1930s, it succeeded a former state capitol as the
courthouse
A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...
for Fayette County.
Previous courthouses
The initial capital of Illinois was
Kaskaskia on the
Mississippi River, but the first years of statehood saw the center of population gradually move northward,
[''History of Fayette County, Illinois : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers''. Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, and Company, 1878.] and in 1819 the legislature decreed the creation of a new capital along the
Kaskaskia River in
Bond County, in the center of the state. Named Vandalia, the city was
platted by the end of 1820; eastern Bond County was split off into the new Fayette County in early 1821, and Vandalia was declared the county seat. A small log building was soon erected on the site and used both by the legislature and the new county, but this state of affairs ceased when the building was destroyed by fire. It was later replaced by a brick structure,
while county offices rented spaces in an assortment of buildings.
[Weiser, Dennis. ''Illinois courthouses: an illustrated history''. Virginia Beach: Donning, 2009, 49.]
By the mid-1830s, continued northern migration had prompted calls for the capital to be relocated farther north,
and the meager quality of the brick capitol provided further arguments for those advocating relocation. Afraid to lose their status as capital, a group of Vandalia residents built
a new capitol building for the state in 1836, but legislators nevertheless chose to move north to
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
. No longer needing the building, the state gave the property to the county for courthouse purposes in 1839. The state bought back the courthouse in 1918, but it remained in county use until 1933, when the state began to restore it for museum use.
Current courthouse
Born in
Hannover in the early nineteenth century, Frederick Remann emigrated to the United States, where he married and fathered a son, future state representative
Frederick Remann II, and moved his family to Vandalia. Father and son together operated a local business, which was prosperous enough to permit Remann (whether father or son is uncertain) to build a mansion west of central Vandalia in the 1860s or 1870s. Although it began as an example of the
Italianate style, the house lost its grand tower between 1878 and 1904, the
arcade supporting the front porch was eventually replaced with pairs of columns, and a two-story
bay window was reduced to the first story only.
[Burtschi, Josephine. ]
Illinois Historic Sites Survey Inventory: Courthouse
. Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, n.d.
With the state planning to convert the courthouse into a museum, Fayette County officials purchased the former Remann House in 1932 and began remodelling it for their own purposes; offices moved into the new courthouse in the following year. As the twentieth century passed, the Remann House gradually became too small for the county's needs, so several adjacent buildings were purchased or constructed. These arrangements also proving inconvenient, the county embarked on another construction project; when work concluded in 1995, the county complex had been converted into a single large connected building, although elements of the Remann design survive, including the bay window, the porch, and much of the basic form of the house.
References
External links
Fayette County websitePhotographs of previous courthouses
{{coord, 38, 57, 36, N, 89, 5, 58, W, display=title
Brick buildings and structures
Buildings and structures in Fayette County, Illinois
County courthouses in Illinois
Former houses in the United States