The Union County Courthouse is a government building in central Jonesboro, 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 Union 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 2013, it replaced a brick structure whose core predated the Civil War.

Early history

Europeans first reached the vicinity of Union County by means of a French expedition under Jolliet and Marquette in 1673; they are unlikely to have landed within Union County's current boundaries, but they are known to have explored the lower end of the

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. History In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper ...

.Perrin, William H., ed. ''History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski counties, Illinois''.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

: Baskin, 1883. The first settlement, consisting of two families who built cabins near the present site of Jonesboro in 1803, was followed by a second settlement in the

American Bottom The American Bottom is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois, extending from Alton, Illinois, south to the Kaskaskia River. It is also sometimes called "American Bottoms". The area is about , most ...

in 1805, at which time the area was yet part of Johnson County. Hills in the area attracted some settlement in 1811 by refugees from the

New Madrid Earthquake New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

seeking stable ground, but even at the end of 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 ...

, the white man was much less numerous than the red in this part of the

Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ca ...

. Union County was formed by a law of January 1818, which specified the location at which the county officials should meet before selecting a county seat. Just two months later, the officials accepted the donation of land at the present site of Jonesboro, and a rude log courthouse was quickly erected by one Thomas Cox. Although the frontiersmen advocated for such a simple building, holding that justice could be dispensed equally in primitive buildings and grand, a

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

courthouse was built in 1820 to replace the original.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, 144.

Jonesboro and Anna

Jonesboro flourished into the 1850s, but the construction of the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

posed a new challenge: the company's engineers requested a plat map of the community, but none being furnished, they bypassed the county seat by a mile, and the new community of

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

was established between Jonesboro and the railroad line. Improved transportation caused Anna to prosper, and it began to challenge Jonesboro for prominence in Union County. After an unsuccessful attempt to provide for a county-seat vote in 1868 via the state legislature, Anna partisans petitioned the county court for redress in 1870, but their petition was rejected, and the challenge gradually subsided.

Architectural history

By the mid-1830s, the frame courthouse of 1820 had become insufficient, and the county government ordered its removal and the construction of a brick replacement on the same lot; the project was completed in 1838 at a cost of $5,000. Although the building was quite fine for the period, it was left altogether unmaintained, and the necessity of constructing a fourth courthouse began to appear before the eyes of the county officials. The General Assembly passed an act in early 1853 permitting Union County to borrow $5,000 for construction (not many years after a similar act had permitted the county to borrow $1,000 to repair the previous building), and the replacement building opened in 1858 at a final cost of $12,000. Two stories tall with a taller central section, the building featured a small tower atop the stepped facade. In 1963, the county expanded the building by adding a two-story stone section to each side. Despite these additions, the county outgrew the building within half a century, forcing some departments to use offices in other buildings, and more than $10 million in bonds was issued in 2012 to enable the construction of a replacement and the demolition of the old building. Its architects were the

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

office of HOK. The replacement opened in August 2013.Malkovich, Becky.
Union County welcomes new courthouse
, ''

The Southern Illinoisan ''The Southern Illinoisan'' is a daily newspaper based in Carbondale, Illinois, known locally as "The Southern." As of October 2014, it has a daily circulation of 21,270, and a Sunday circulation of 26,958. It is one of the major regional newspa ...

'', 2013-08-25. Accessed 2017-08-02.

References

External links

Union County websitePhotographs of the previous courthouse at various times
{{coord, 37, 27, 10, N, 89, 16, 18, W, display=title Government buildings completed in 2013 Buildings and structures in Union County, Illinois County courthouses in Illinois HOK (firm) buildings 2013 establishments in Illinois