Perry County Courthouse in Pinckneyville

The Perry County Courthouse is a government building in central Pinckneyville, 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 Perry County,

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. Built in 1850, it is the third

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, and it has been twice expanded to serve the county's growing needs.

Early history

Perry County was created from pieces of Randolph and

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counties by an 1827 law. This law provided for a commission to choose an undeveloped location to become the

and directed that this location be named " Pinckneyville". Additionally, it specified that until a permanent location were chosen, the county government should meet at the home of one Amos Anderson,''Combined history of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry counties, Illinois: with illustrations descriptive of their scenery and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers''.

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: McDonough, 1883. who lived about a mile south of the location eventually chosen as county seat. Pinckneyville was

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 ...

ted in January 1828, and within a month county officials ordered the construction of a new courthouse. When completed in September 1828, it was 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 ...

log building measuring ; the county paid contractor Berry Anderson $54. In late 1835, the

county commission A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the county government in some states of the United States; such commissions usually comprise ...

ers announced plans to build a larger brick courthouse, on each side, and two stories tall; many county residents protested this move because of county finances, but construction finished in late 1837. Contractor Amos Anderson and associated craftsmen were paid more than $2,600.

New courthouse

Despite the high construction cost, the 1837 courthouse was poorly built: by 1840 the doors and windows had to be repaired so that they could no longer be opened from outside, and in 1849, more than five hundred county voters petitioned the commissioners for a replacement building. This structure, the third in the county's history, measured and was built of brick with Tuscan columns; it was completed in 1850 at a cost of $6,000. Even this building was insufficient, giving no protection against fire, and little protection against evilly disposed individuals: many valuable papers mysteriously disappeared, and cases coming for trial were often postponed because documentation went missing. Voters rejected a

tax levy A tax levy under United States federal law is an administrative action by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under statutory authority, generally without going to court, to seize property to satisfy a tax liability. The levy "includes the power ...

for courthouse expansion in the November 1877 election, but popular opinion quickly reversed, and by April 1878, more than 1,000 voters had requested what they had recently opposed at the polls. Pinckneyville general contractor William Wilson oversaw construction for a fee of $9,742, and the county took possession of the finished addition in April 1879.

Expansion

Measuring , the new section gave the courthouse a facade long. The original section, a gabled structure oriented toward

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, is three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

wide and four long, while the addition is oriented in a perpendicular direction and features four bays with

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 similar to those of the original.Weiser, Dennis. ''Illinois courthouses: an illustrated history''.

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: Donning, 2009. A second addition was completed in 1939, attached to the other end of the 1879 addition; from the street, the original sits on the left, the 1939 addition to the right, and the 1879 addition in the middle. The simple gable of the original has been rebuilt to a distinctive

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 short space between the pediment and the pilasters has been reworked into a plain

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

, and the 1939 addition features similar elements. An

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pierces each of the two pediments. While the main entrance once sat in the middle bay of the original courthouse's facade, the spot has been converted into a window, and twin entrances have since been placed in the middle of the 1879 addition. Between the building and the street lies a simple park with a collection of war memorials.

References

External links

Perry County website
{{coord, 38, 4, 50, N, 89, 22, 55, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 1850 Brick buildings and structures Buildings and structures in Perry County, Illinois County courthouses in Illinois Neoclassical architecture in Illinois