BlockBefore
Photograph of Old McHenry County Courthouse
Photograph by Carldaniel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Old McHenry County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

From the record

“The Old McHenry County Courthouse, in McHenry County, Illinois, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1974. Once the courthouse in Woodstock, the county seat of McHenry County, the former courthouse is occupied by various private tenants including a restaurant and an art gallery.”

Wikipedia article Old McHenry County Courthouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 13 National Register listings published here for McHenry County · listed in 1974 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. City Sq., Woodstock, 60098
  • When was it listed? November 1974
  • Category. building
  • Township. Dorr township
  • Architectural style. Renaissance Revival architecture
  • Architect. John M. Van Osdel
  • National Register reference number. 74002183 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

The ground it stands on

3,039 words

The chapter on Dorr Township in History of McHenry County, Illinois, published 1922 names Woodstock. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

Dorr Township is bounded on the north by Greenwood Township, a portion of which is included in the city of Woodstock; on the east by Xunda Township ; on the south by Grafton Township, and on the west by Seneca Township. Originally this township contained some very fine timber, but no prairie land, although it is level. It is watered by Hanley Creek, and a branch of the Kishwaukee.

Passage source: History of McHenry County, Illinois, published 1922.

Oakland Cemetery, located at the western limits of Woodstock, was purchased by the corporation, December 20, 1859, of M. T. Bryan, and then comprised ten acres. Two additional acres were added for a Potters' Field, and other additions have since been made, as increasing space was needed. The Catholic Cemetery, known as "Calvary, " is located just south of Oakland, across the highway, and both are kept in beautiful condition.

Passage source: History of McHenry County, Illinois, published 1922.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Dorr Township - 3,039 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Fires near this property

1 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Old McHenry County Courthouse in 2014, burning about 12 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
26 April 2014Debris and open burning12 acresSavanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife RefugeHACKMATACK PETERSON TRACT

Every fire recorded in McHenry County

Mines and quarries near this property

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Old McHenry County Courthouse: 2 past producers, 1 plant, 1 producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Gavers Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant
Reed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rose Farm PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Woodstock PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in McHenry County

Storms near this property

60 of 69 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Woodstock, the town this property stands in, in 69 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 38 thunderstorm wind, 20 hail, 5 lightning, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2007Flash FloodWoodstock$500,000Intersection of Route 47 and 120 closed due to two feet of standing water. Willow and Clay Streets closed due to waist deep water. Police conducting rescues from stranded vehicles. Basement flooding was reported throughout Woodstock, and as many as 10 properties were flooded as a creek overflowed its banks in McHenry, IL.
August 1996LightningWoodstock$200,000no account filed
June 2009Tornado (EF1)Woodstock$75,000A tornado touched down near Highway 14 and Davis Road. At this location, several pine trees had large branches sheared and topped off with two of the trees partially uprooted. At this point the tornado was rated EF0 with winds estimated near 85 mph and a path width of 20 yards. The tornado continued northeast, crossing Highway 14, into a neighborhood where it increased in intensity and produced damage to structures and trees. Damage in the area was to a garage adjacent to a main house. This well built and fairly new garage was lifted and turned off of its foundation, which was securely bolted to a concrete finish. Damage at this location was rated EF1 with winds estimated near 100 mph and a path width of 75 yards. The tornado proceeded to move northeast through the neighborhood where it uprooted four old but healthy soft and hard wood trees. Just to the northeast of this neighborhood is a commercial district where the tornado produced damage to two buildings. Damage occurred to the roof of one building with the other building sustaining damage to one of its exterior walls. The wall was partially collasped but it was an older structure. EF1 damage was produced at this point with winds estimated near 100 mph and a path width of 30 yards. The tornado weakened as it moved northeast, producing damage to trees near and along Lake Road. The tornado appeared to have lifted with no other damage evident beyond this point.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock$30,000A 90 foot tall, 45 inch diameter tree was blown onto a house, causing significant damage to the roof, attic, a bathroom and a bedroom.
July 2011LightningWoodstock$10,000Lightning knocked ornamental stonework from the bell tower of the Woodstock Opera House.
March 2012LightningWoodstock$5,000Lightning struck a satellite dish on the roof of a building of condos, which started a fire in the attic. Only minor damage was reported and the condo remained habitable.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindWoodstock$2,000Utility poles were snapped at Kimball Avenue and Bunker Street.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWoodstock$1,000Trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWoodstock$1,000A large tree was uprooted and blown over along Judd Street. The root ball damaged part of a driveway and sidewalk.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWoodstock$1,000Tree limbs and power lines were blown down.
May 2006LightningWoodstock$1,000Lightning strike at IL 47 and Donovan Road brought down power lines.
May 2001LightningWoodstock$1,000Lightning ignited the wooden roof of an historic old home causing one thousand dollars damge. The house was built in 1852.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Broadcast media reported a tree down on a house on the 600 block of S Jefferson St in Woodstock.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Multiple reports were received of tree and fence damage in Woodstock.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A 6 to 8 inch diameter tree branch was downed onto power lines near the intersection of Jackson and Douglas streets in Woodstock.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A tree had fallen onto a house along Clay St in Woodstock.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Woodstock PD reported multiple power lines downed around Woodstock.
June 2024HailWoodstock-One inch hail was reported on the 300 block of N Rose Farm Rd in Woodstock.
June 2024HailWoodstock-One inch hail was reported on the 400 block of Shannon Dr in Woodstock.
June 2024Heavy RainWoodstock-Storm total rainfall of 4.68 was recorded in Woodstock.
June 2024Heavy RainWoodstock-Mesonet station DW7142 recorded 3.8 of rain.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Several trees and power lines were blown down near Washington Street and Lamb Road, blocking roadways.
August 2024HailWoodstock-A trained spotter reported 1.75 hail near US Rt. 14 and Dean St.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Several trees were reported down in and around Woodstock.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A wind gust to 58 mph was measured near Woodstock.
March 2023Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Strong winds had blown down a tree west of Woodstock. Wind magnitude and time were estimated based on radar.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Part of a tree was reported uprooted near Flagg Lane and Hickman Lane in Woodstock.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A photo showed tree damage at Emricson Park near South Street.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A photo shared on social media showed a large tree snapped at its base in Emricson Park.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A large tree was snapped halfway up.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A couple of large trees were blown down between Woodstock and Bull Valley.
September 2018FloodWoodstock-Water from retention ponds overflowed onto some streets with about 3 inches of standing flood waters.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Multiple trees were blown down between Woodstock and Wonder Lake. A tree was blocking the road at Banford and Queen Anne and another tree was blocking Thompson north of Route 120.
April 2014HailWoodstock-Dime to quarter size hail covered the ground near Queen Anne Street and Todd Avenue.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Wind gusts were estimated to 65 mph.
May 2011HailWoodstock-Dime to nickel size hail was reported at the intersection of Route 14 and Route 47.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A large tree was blown over onto train tracks and a passenger car near a train station.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A large tree was blown down blocking South Street.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A tree was blown down.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A gust to 67 mph was measured.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A gust to 60 mph was measured near Route 47 and Lucus.
December 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A tree was blown down blocking Mcconnell Road at Lily Pond.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Measured wind gust to 62 mph.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A spotter measured a wind gust to 63 mph.
May 2006Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-A six inch tree limb was blown down near Country Club Road and a tree was blown down on Dean Street.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Trees were blown down in Bull Valley.
February 1999Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Shingles were blown off a house and tree limbs were blown down in Woodstock and Lake in the Hills.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Strong thunderstorm winds gusted to 68mph in McHenry and 70mph in Richmond.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindWoodstock-Trees were blown down in Woodstock. Trees were uprooted and limbs blown down in Mc Henry. One tree fell through the roof of a house. A metal shed was blown 150 yards.
August 2025HailWoodstock-no account filed
August 2024HailWoodstock-no account filed
September 2021HailWoodstock-no account filed
April 2020HailWoodstock-no account filed
April 2015HailWoodstock-no account filed
March 2012HailWoodstock-no account filed
March 2012HailWoodstock-no account filed
March 2012HailWoodstock-no account filed
July 2009Funnel CloudWoodstock-no account filed
April 2006HailWoodstock-no account filed
May 2006HailWoodstock-no account filed

Every storm recorded in McHenry County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

4 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Woodstock Square Historic Districtunder 500 feet1982
Woodstock Opera House1.1 miles1974
Terwilliger House4.9 miles1979
George Stickney House5.0 miles1979

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 74002183 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
McHenry CountyAll 13 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.