The Pulaski County Courthouse is a government building in Mound City, 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 Pulaski 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 1912 and damaged by the

Great Flood of 1937 The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, 385 people died, one million people were left homeless and property losses reached $500 million ($10.2 billion ...

, it remains in use as the county's

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 ...

History

The first residents of Pulaski County, aside from soldiers on station, were a few families who settled along the Ohio River prior to 1810. Settlement was retarded by the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, during which Indians friendly with the British murdered a group of settlers at the later site of Mound City.Wall, J.L.
Moyers' Brief History of Pulaski County
'. Mound City: ''Pulaski Enterprise'', 1944. At the war's outbreak, the land now part of Pulaski County was included within the bounds of Johnson County; parts were included in Union County and later Alexander County until Pulaski County was formed in 1843 from sections of Alexander and Johnson counties. The town of

America 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 ...

, now within the boundaries of Pulaski County, served as the Alexander County seat from 1819 to 1837. When Pulaski County was formed,

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

was designated the county seat, but four years passed before a courthouse could be erected. During this period, controversy arose over the practice of public officials merely carrying around the papers appertaining to their offices, prompting the General Assembly to enact a legal guarantee for these officials' actions.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, 123. Meanwhile, as railroad construction approached the area, a riverside landowner decided to

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

a town in the southern part of the county in 1854, and a Cincinnati company platted another town nearby in the following year; these two locations, Mound City and Emporium City, merged under the former name in 1857. Mound City's location kept it busy during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, as a

Union Navy ), (official) , colors = Blue and gold , colors_label = Colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label ...

base for

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

maintenance was built on the shoreline and a large naval hospital operated in a former warehouse. In 1865, even before the military bases had been decommissioned, the General Assembly voted to allow Pulaski County residents a

plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on the location of the county seat; the vote was held in 1866, and following a two-year court battle that nearly culminated in a

county seat war A county seat war is an American phenomenon that occurred mainly in the Old West as it was being settled and county lines determined. Incidents elsewhere, such as in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia, have also been recorded. As new towns s ...

, the result was finally decided in favor of Mound City in 1868.

Current courthouse

Constructed in 1912, the current Pulaski County Courthouse is a two-

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 ...

brick building with a

belt course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

topping its five-section facade: a one-window section with slight

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

s sits at either end, a

post and lintel In architecture, post and lintel (also called prop and lintel or a trabeated system) is a building system where strong horizontal elements are held up by strong vertical elements with large spaces between them. This is usually used to hold up ...

with

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

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frames the central entrance and one second-story window, and four windows pierce each floor of the intermediate sections. The interior was constructed to provide space for county officials on the first story and courtrooms, plus some smaller offices, on the second. Originally located west of the courthouse was a jail built as part of the same construction project. Although Mound City's first settlers believed that their new community was high enough to stand above the worst floods, they were quickly proven wrong and forced to build levees to protect the city. These structures were improved following periodic floods, but nothing could hold back the

, which was far higher than had ever before been seen on the Ohio River; every part of Mound City was submerged, the shallowest point seeing of water and the deepest . Every building in the city was damaged, and waters reached the courthouse's second story, but it was capable of repair. Remodelled in 1964 and deemed in excellent condition by a later

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...

survey,
Illinois Historic Sites Survey Inventory: Pulaski Co. Courthouse
'.

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: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, n.d. it remains in use by the county government.

References

External links

Pulaski County website
{{coord, 37, 5, 23, N, 89, 9, 44, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 1912 Brick buildings and structures Buildings and structures in Pulaski County, Illinois County courthouses in Illinois Neoclassical architecture in Illinois