Macoupin County, Illinois - Chapter 9, 1911

Public Buildings

THERE SECOND BUILDING SOMEWHAT MORE PRETENTIOUS THAN ITS PREDECESSOR HERE LINCOLN, DOUGLAS AND MANY OTHERS WHO BECAME OF NATIONAL NOTE FOREGATHERED EARLY CRIMINAL RECORD.

First Court House

The county, being organized and electing officials to look after its business affairs, needed a place of its own, wherein the county officers might perform their duties. Or, in other words, a place was needed in which to hold court, offices for the board of commissioners and other officers, and a safe repository for public documents. The commissioners' and district courts had been held at the homes of certain of the settlers, but the business of the county was growing and the necessity of a courthouse became more and more apparent. Hence it was "at a county commissioners' court begun and held at the house of Ezekiel Good, in and for the county of Macoupin, on Monday, the seventh day of September, A. D., 1829."

"It is ordered by the court that the building of a courthouse for said county of the following description, namely : to be built of hewn logs, 18x24 feet- The logs to face one foot on an average ; the house to be two stories high. The lower story to be eight feet between floors and the second story to be six feet below the roof; to have one door below, with one window below and one above; door to be cased and to have a good strong plank shutter ; the windows to contain twelve lights or panes of glass, eight by ten ; two good plank floors, to be jointed and laid down rough ; roof to be double covered with boards ; weight poles to be shaven ; craqks to be lined on the inside with shaven boards and crammed on the outside with mud and. straw or grass, well mixed together ; all to be completed in a strong manner by the first Friday after the second Monday in April next, will be let on a credit of six, twelve, and eighteen months, to the lowest bidder on the igth inst; the undertaker to give bond with approved security for the performance of his contract, and that the clerk of this court advertise the same."

Seth Hodges received the contract for the building of the courthouse, and filed the necessary bond required by the commissioners. The building was duly completed according to contract, and the commissioners held their first court in the new courthouse on the ijth day of July, 1830.

The courthouse was accepted by the commissioners, and at the September term, 1830, Seth Hodges was allowed the sum of $48.33 1/3, and at a subsequent term of the court he was allowed $57.33 1/3. Among the items inckided in the building and furnishing the courthouse were benches and bar $23, which furnishes an interesting comparison with the furniture of the court room and judges' chair of the present magnificent structure.

The commissioners on the 25th of March, 1835, appointed James C. Anderson, Isaac Greathouse, Stith M. Otwell, John R. Lewis, and John Wilson agents for the county of Macoupin, to borrow a sum of money not under five or exceeding seven thousand dollars, at a rate of interest not exceeding eight per cent per annum, for a term of years not under six nor over ten - to be applied to the erection of a brick courthouse. The commissioners approved the bond, June i, 1835.

The Second Courthouse

The second building erected as a courthouse had an atmosphere about it never attained by its successor. It was build on ground dedicated by its donor for that purpose and its walls echoed and reechoed many times the eloquence of a Lincoln, a Douglas and other great legal lights that have long ceased to shed their radiance upon an admiring public. Men of national renown, in the days of "riding the circuit" attended court in this historic old building.

The court adopted the following as the plan of a courthouse in the town of Carlinville and county of Macoupin : "The square of the house fifty feet ; wall to be of stone, four feet, two feet under ground, of rough stone, and the other of two feet hewn stone, all to be laid with good lime mortar, two feet, six inches thick ; the balance of good hard burnt stock brick, laid with good lime mortar, in workmanlike manner, two and a half bricks thick first story, and two the second, each story to be fourteen feet in the clear ; the lower floor to be even with the top of the stone wall, to have four posts with a door, and two windows in the lower story and three windows in each front in the upper story, each window to be twenty-four light, 10x14, and the door to be made in accordance with a plan given by Dr. J. R. Lewis ; the first door in the east to be made permanent and the judge's seat to be placed against the same. The lower part to be divided into a court room and lobby, separated by a bannister four feet high, passing through the house from north to south, parallel or nearly so with the near side of the north and south doors, to the judge's seat, two flights of stairs running from the court room over each door to the center space of upper story, and to be one chimney.

"December term, 1836. It is ordered by the court that Harbird Weatherford and Jefferson Weatherford, two of the undertakers to build the courthouse for this county be allowed the sum of $1,500 to be due and payable on the 1st of March, 1839, and if not punctually paid when due to draw interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum from the time the same becomes due and payable until paid.

"June term, 1837. It is ordered by the court that in the plan of the courthouse in this county that the stone caps be dispensed with and that brick arches be turned, and also that the sills for the windows of stone be dispensed with and walnut sills be received in their place, and also that $175 be deducted from the price of building said house. Two of the undertakers of the house being present and giving their consent to this order by J. Greathouse and J. Weatherford.

"1838. A fence costing $230, built round the courthouse to each corner, and each chimney to have two fire places, one above and one below, the upper part to be laid off with a passage in the center, corresponding with the center windows, ten feet wide ; the east side of said passage to be entry room and the west to be laid off in three rooms of equal size. The roof and cupola to be built in accordance with the said plan of Dr. J. R. Lewis, James C. Anderson and Thomas Corr as commissioners to let out the said building to the lowest bidder, payable out of the county in the following payments: $2,000 payable the ist of March, 1839; $4,000 payable the ist of March, 1840; $4,000 payable the ist of March, 1841 ; and the balance provided the amount does not exceed the sum of two thousand dollars, payable the ist of March, 1842. County orders to be issued to the order of said commissioners, and said orders to bear eight per cent interest v per annum, from the time due until paid, if not punctually paid, and said court house to be built in the center of the public square, of the said town of Carlinville, and the same to be finished according to the said plan, against the ist of January, 1838. Ordered publication of said building be published in the Alton Telegraph four weeks."

On the completion of the third and present courthouse, the old building was sold at public auction by the authorities, and brought a little over $700.

Jurists Of Early Renown

Here sat upon the bench with dignity and impartiality - Stephen T. Logan, a man who won lasting renown as a learned lawyer and unapproachable jurist. He was preceded, however, by Judge Samuel D. Lockwood, whose character was stainless. It was said of Judge Lockwood that as a jurist he was the peer of the ablest of his contemporary associates on the bench.

There was also William Brown, who was appointed by Governor Duncan as judge pro tem. of the first judicial district, upon the resignation of Judge Logan in 1837. He was a native of Kentucky, a man of culture and agreeable manners and at the time of his elevation to the bench but twenty-five years of age. He was followed on the bench by Jesse B. Thomas, John Pearson, William Thomas, of Jacksonville, David M. Woodson, of Carrollton, in 1848; Edward Y. Rice, who studied law under General John M. Palmer and was elected to the bench in 1857; H. M. Vandeveer, of Taylorville, in 1870; and Charles S. Zane, of Springfield, in 1873; William R. Welch, in 1877; Jesse D. Phillips, of Hillsboro; Judge Phillips resigned in 1893 and was succeeded by Robert B. Shirley, of Carlinville, the number of the districts having been changed and Macoupin placed in the fifth.

In the apportionment of 1897 the number of judicial districts was increased from thirteen to seventeen and Macoupin county was assigned to the seventh. Judge Shirley succeeded himself on the bench and is the present resident judge.

Lincoln And Douglas

IWhen southern Illinois formed one vast judicial district many able lawyers appeared at this court as' the state or prosecuting attorney. Among them may be mentioned George Farquer, a half brother of Governor Ford, in the early '305; John J. Harclin, within the same period; Stephen A Douglas, the "little giant," in 1835 and 1836; Jesse B. Thomas, who afterward was elevated to the bench, likewise D. M. Woodson; John S. Greathouse, in 1841-2, the pioneer lawyer of Carlinville; John Evans, in 1843-4; C. H. Goodrich, 1845-6; William Weer for short time as an appointee; Henry Dusenburg, 1847-8; C. H. Goodrich, 1849-52; Cyrus Epler, 1853-6; James B. White, 1857-64; C. M. Morrison, 1865-69; Horace Gwin, 1870-72; S. T. Corn, 1873-80.

At this bar appeared members of the legal profession who eventually became of world-wide reputation. Abraham Lincoln, in "riding the circuit" was frequently called to the Macoupin sittings of court and there are men still living in Carlinville, who can remember seeing him upon his visits. He was considered a good lawyer and a shrewd one. In his cases he was uniformly successful. As is well known by the student of history, Douglas and Lincoln's rivalry did not begin at the opening of their political career. They rarely appeared on the same side of a case ; the rule was to find them opposing each other in the courts in the interest of contending clients. The fact that such men as Lincoln and Douglas practiced at the Macoupin bar, if only as itinerant lawyers, gives to the local history of the profession a flavor all its own.

The eloquent and heroic E. D. Baker, of Springfield, also appeared here, as did also U. F. Linder, John J. Hardin and many others who made great reputations and thereby honored the profession of their adoption ; but to enumerate them all would be tedious and, most likely, profitless to the general reader .,

County Jails

It was, of course, even though the county was new and sparsely settled, necessary to have a place in which to confine the unruly and criminal class. Carlinville was the county seat and the building of a county jail could not be avoided. Consequently, at the March term of the commissioners' court, in the year 1832, it was ordered that a county jail be built of the following description :

First Jail

"To be built of hewed timbers, the outside wall to be started one foot under ground, to be eighteen feet square, built of logs, hewed to square ten inches ; the floor to be laid with hewed timbers, to square twelve inches, two thicknesses and crosswise, the whole to be only twelve inches above the surface of the ground ; the inside wall to be built of hewed timbers, to square eight inches, and started on the floor the middle wall to be started at the same place as the inside one, and built of hewed timbers, to square six inches, to be let down outwise, the inside and middle wall to be raised seven feet high ; the second, floor to be laid with timbers to square ten inches, to be laid on said walls, and said floor to be laid with two- inch plank crosswise, to be jointed and laid down rough ; then the middle wall will be discontinued, and the other two to be continued seven feet higher, leaving an open space between them of six inches ; third floor to be seven feet from the second, and laid with hewed timbers, to square twelve inches, said timbers to extend outside of the wall nine inches at each end ; roof to be shingled with walnut shingles, to be made five-eighths of an inch thick and four inches wide, on an average; rafters to be three by five inches at the plate and thfee square at the top, to show four inches to the weather ; to be sawed and to be set two feet from the center ; two center plates framed on the top to be eight by twelve inches, whereon to set the rafters, with conduits or eave troughs, to be black walnut ; one outside door in the upper story, to have two shutters, one to open on the outside and the other on the inside, to be two feet six inches wide and five feet high, to be made of two thicknesses of plank, plank to be one and a half inches thick, nailed on crosswise, to be strapped with iron, straps to be half-inch thick and three inches wide, to be riveted on the door not exceeding six inches apart, the spaces between to be filled up with nails with large heads, to be driven in and clinched on the inside ; hinges to be strong and suitable to the door ; hatchway two and a half feet square, to be made as the outside door, and put in the middle of the second floor, hung on strong hinges, to be fastened with a large hasp and padlock; platform four feet square, bannistered round, with a stepladder extending from the ground up to it; two windows below, one foot square each, with iron bars one inch square, to be two inches from center to center, and let in the middle wall, bars to be crossed in the windows, and two windows above, to be the same size as the lower ones, and made with bars as below, only single instead of crossed ; all the timbers to be of white oak and over cap ; to be completed in a strong and workmanlike manner, on or before the 1st of September, 1833. One payment of two hundred dollars to be made at the March term, 1833, to the undertaker, the same amount to be paid in annual installments, until the full amount shall be discharged ; be sold on the first Monday in June next, to the lowest bidder, the undertaker to give bond, with approved security for the performance of his contract, to the county commissioners of this county and to their successors in office, conditioned for the faithful performance of his contract, on or before the first day of September, 1833 ; also that the clerk of this court advertise the same in three public places in this county.

"December, 1832. It is ordered by the court that the jail about to be erected for this county be erected on the northeast corner of lot numbered eighty, being the same lot on which the stray pen is put in the town of Carlinville.

Second Jail

This was a much more pretentious structure than the former and was erected near the southeast corner of the public square in the year 1854. It was a twostory building, the outer walls being constructed of brick and the cells and partitions of wood. The upper floor contained the cells for prisoners, while the lower

The Third Jail

This was built in 1860, on the site of the burned building. The walls were of brick ; the cells of iron. Upon the completion of the building the cells were removed to Alton and used for jail purposes. The building was used as a dwelling.

The Fourth Jail

The fourth and present jail is built of stone and is a handsome and durable structure. It stands south of the courthouse and was built at the time of the erection of its grander neighbor. A view of this edifice is given, from which a good idea of the plan may be gained.