The Randolph County Courthouse is a government building in central

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, 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 ...

Randolph County Randolph County is the name of eight counties in the United States: *Randolph County, Alabama *Randolph County, Arkansas *Randolph County, Georgia *Randolph County, Illinois *Randolph County, Indiana *Randolph County, Missouri *Randolph County, Nort ...

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 1972, it is the latest of several buildings to serve as the seat of government in Illinois' oldest county, and the second erected in Chester after the relocation of county government from

Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were one of the indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in t ...

in 1847 after a devastating flood.

Early history

The first Frenchmen settled in present-day Randolph County circa 1685, and for the colony's first several decades, there was no formal local government: the missionary priests at Kaskaskia settled disputes and dispensed justice among both white men and Indians in the nascent French colony.''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''.

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

: McDonough, 1883. Conflict with Spain prompted the construction of

Fort de Chartres Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. It was used as the administrative center for the province, which was part of New France. Due generally to river floo ...

, beginning in 1718, and for many years it was the seat of government in the area, even after Great Britain conquered the region in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. However, the fort's location along the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

left it vulnerable to floods that carried away many walls and towers over the years, and the severity of the flood of 1772 prompted its abandonment and the removal of government to Kaskaskia. Randolph County was organized in 1795 when Illinois was still part of the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

, although an earlier courthouse, built for an early regional territorial court, predated the county by sixteen years. In the earliest years, three

justices of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, acting collegiately, served the purposes of a county court; the first regular county court met in 1810 at the tavern of one Thomas Cox. No courthouse was built during the territorial period; Cox and other Kaskaskia tavern-keepers hosted the county government until 1812, in which year the county purchased a house in Kaskaskia. The first purpose-built courthouse was completed in 1821 after eighteen months of construction, and the former house sold to become a tavern; 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 structure, the new courthouse cost $4,750.

Moving to Chester

Randolph County Courthouse (Illinois) c1883

Disaster struck Kaskaskia in the form of the

Great Flood of 1844 The Great Flood of 1844 is the biggest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River, in North America, in terms of discharge. The adjusted economic impact was not as great as subsequent floods because of the small populatio ...

; the highest waters in living memory forced the residents to flee to nearby bluffs, and the town itself was virtually destroyed. Even the avulsion of 1881, in which the Mississippi River cut off the bend in which Kaskaskia lies and left it attached to Missouri, was much less significant. The devastation of 1844 prompted calls for the removal of the county seat, and a fiercely contested election, featuring widespread

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

and the involvement in the courts, resulted in the movement of the county seat to Chester in late 1847. Officials occupied the community's schoolhouse pending the construction of a new courthouse; built and equipped at private expense, the new building opened in 1850.

Current courthouse

The 1850 courthouse lasted well over a century, but it was replaced with the current structure in 1972. A

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

structure with large areas of exterior concrete, its main entrance is situated in a recess at the center of the facade, atop a flight of steps. Above the entrance, a panelled wall features the words "Randolph County Court House" and the county seal. Because the building is set into a river bluff, an

observation deck An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclosed ...

was constructed at the rear to overlook the river, and the interior is five stories tall. A grand

spiral staircase Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

, set above a fountain, connects the floors.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, 126-127.

References

External links

County government websiteInterior imagery
{{coord, 37, 54, 14, N, 89, 49, 41, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 1972 Buildings and structures in Randolph County, Illinois Concrete buildings and structures County courthouses in Illinois Modernist architecture in Illinois