Coltonville was a community in

DeKalb County DeKalb County may refer to one of several counties in the United States, all of which were named for Baron Johann de Kalb: * DeKalb County, Alabama DeKalb County is a County (United States), county in the Northeast Alabama, northeastern part ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

In June 1839, DeKalb County was considering building a

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

and, as such, placement of a

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

. Rufus Colton,

Clerk of the Court A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths t ...

in the county, was leading a push for Coltonville, where he lived.Klein, Ron and McIntyre, Mac
Looking Back at the DeKalb County Courthouse
, DeKalb County Online, Retrieved January 13, 2007. Through political wrangling, and underhanded techniques, Colton nearly led Coltonville into a new era as county seat. He had arranged for court to convene at his home, only after he had set up an election, as clerk, for county seat. The election was unique, in that, only the residents of Colton's choice for county seat, Coltonville, were informed of it. When the DeKalb County Court convened, in Colton's Coltonville home, the sheriff served a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

which stated a courthouse was to be built in

Sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

, the city which would become the county seat. Even without the court order, Colton's actions would have never been deemed legal; they were eventually cancelled by an act of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

.History of DeKalb County Courthouse
, 16th Judicial Circuit, 2005, Retrieved January 13, 2007. Along with Brush Point, the other community considered for county seat, both communities disappeared after losing out to Sycamore. Today, the town name lives on as Coltonville Road in southwestern Sycamore. The townsite lies in DeKalb Township, near the cities of DeKalb and Sycamore. The old Coltonville School was located at .

Notes

Ghost towns in Illinois Populated places in DeKalb County, Illinois {{US-ghost-town-stub