The Marion County Courthouse is a government building in Salem, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

of Marion County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Built in 1910, it is the fourth

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 ...

in the county's history.

Former courthouses

Marion County was formed in 1823 from what had been the northern part of Jefferson County,Brinkerhoff, J.H.G. ''Brinkerhoff's history of Marion County Illinois''.

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

: Bowen, 1909. and the land now occupied by central Salem was donated for the express purpose of founding a

, with a lot reserved for courthouse construction. At the second meeting of the county court, a contract was signed with Aaron Hicks to build a courthouse at a cost of $499. Measuring , this 1½-

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

log building was pierced with two doors but no windows, and its interior was partitioned into two. The upper half story served as a jail to hold those awaiting trial.Weiser, Dennis. ''Illinois courthouses: an illustrated history''.

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

: Donning, 2009, 96-97. Hicks finished the building within nine months, and it served until 1837. After the county stopped using it, the courthouse became a church building for local Methodists, and local

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

s also used the building for several years. The original courthouse's upper floor was replaced by a new jail between 1830 and 1832. In 1836, the county board ordered the construction of a new courthouse at a cost of $655, but contractor Mark Tully failed to complete it (the reason is unrecorded, but the county's refusal to penalize him indicates that he had good reason), and Nathaniel Adams instead oversaw construction. Two stories tall with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

, and measuring , the wooden courthouse was pierced with several windows and doors on its various sides, including a second-floor doorway that opened onto a balcony above the main entrance. Adams employed high-quality construction methods, allowing it to stand for several decades; after it ceased to be used as a courthouse, Charles Mills bought the building and moved it elsewhere to serve as his residence. Marion County's third courthouse was ordered in July 1857, and Joseph Miller began construction in the following year. However, Miller was found to be using poor-quality materials, and county officials were able to annul the contract and obtain an award of

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

, although Miller's poverty prevented the county from recovering any significant amount. His contract was given to the firm of Moore and Morrow, and at a cost of $35,000 the new building opened in 1860. Its design featured Neoclassical elements on the second story, including

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and a pair of columns supporting a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

the width of the facade. This building remained in use into the twentieth century; Brinkerhoff's ''History of Marion County Illinois'' (1909) reported:

"It is still the courthouse for Marion county, and though out of style, is yet a substantial building, and but that modern conveniences and comforts are lacking, would stand a century.

Current courthouse

Joseph Royer designed the present courthouse, which was built starting in 1910. Featuring a form of Neoclassical architecture newer than its predecessor, the courthouse is a two-story stone building with Ionic columns set on both sides of the main entrance. These doors sit at the top of a wide flight of stairs with elements such as ornamental lamps at the sides. Rectangular windows, both single and paired, are set in various parts of the facade. The exterior features

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

blocks sitting atop a raised basement, with plain

string courses A course is a layer of the same unit running horizontally in a wall. It can also be defined as a continuous row of any masonry unit such as bricks, concrete masonry units (CMU), stone, shingles, tiles, etc. Coursed masonry construction arranges ...

at various levels near the basement's summit and under the edge of the roof. Near the courthouse sits a two-story office building, which was constructed in 1978 according to a design by Field, Goldman, and Magee. The same firm oversaw the

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

of the existing courthouse in the same year.

References

External links

Marion County Circuit Clerk
{{coord, 38, 37, 39, N, 88, 56, 42, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 1910 Brick buildings and structures Buildings and structures in Marion County, Illinois County courthouses in Illinois Neoclassical architecture in Illinois Stone buildings in the United States