The Schuyler County Courthouse is a government building in Rushville, 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 Schuyler County,

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

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. Completed in 1882, it is the third courthouse in the county's history. Schuyler County was organized in 1825 from part of Pike County, and a commission chose a location in what is now far southern Rushville Township to become the new

. Difficulties arising with the location, an act of the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...

was procured to permit the re-location of the seat; this action was performed in early 1826, and the new settlement was named "Rushville" in honor of

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educa ...

.''Combined history of Schuyler and Brown 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 List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

: W.R. Brink, 1882. A log courthouse was erected in Rushville in late 1826, and high. However, this building soon because unsatisfactory, and a replacement brick structure was finished in 1830. The brick courthouse remained in use for slightly over half a century, but by 1880 the building had become dilapidated, and county officials chose to borrow the plans of the Monroe County Courthouse in Michigan to build their own courthouse. Construction on this building finished in mid-1882 at a cost of $36,000. In its early years, the 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 ...

building featured a central

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

surrounding the entrance, a clock tower with

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

on one corner, and short square towers on other corners. The courthouse's present appearance dates from the 1990s, following a storm that forced the removal of the spire. Most of the interior resembles its original appearance: modernization projects in the 1970s greatly modified the interior, but the damage was repaired two decades later. Observing that a skilled roofer was to be imprisoned for a crime, a local judge instead sentenced him to work on restoring the interior, assisted by juvenile offenders who were capable of performing simple tasks. With the aid of labor donated by other local residents, the project was completed at zero cost to the county.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, 135.

References

External links

Schuyler County website
{{coord, 40, 7, 14, N, 90, 33, 50, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 1882 Brick buildings and structures Buildings and structures in Schuyler County, Illinois County courthouses in Illinois Clock towers in Illinois U.S. Route 24