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Photograph of Putnam County Courthouse
Photograph by Nyttend, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Putnam County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

From the record

“The Putnam County Courthouse, located at 120 N. 4th Street in Hennepin, is Putnam County, Illinois' county courthouse. Built in 1839, the building is the oldest courthouse in the state which is still in use.”

Wikipedia article Putnam County Courthouse (Illinois), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 3 National Register listings published here for Putnam County · listed in 1975 · 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. 4th St., Hennepin, 61356
  • When was it listed? March 1975
  • Category. building
  • Township. Hennepin township
  • Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 75000672 - 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.

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 Putnam County Courthouse in 2014, burning under an acre 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
30 March 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesSTAND6

Every fire recorded in Putnam County

Mines and quarries near this property

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Putnam County Courthouse: 5 past producers, 2 producers. 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
Bureau Rawson Plant #6Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Crowder PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Embs PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gedraitis PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Hennepin PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Morine PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Newbaum PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Putnam County

Storms near this property

28 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hennepin, the town this property stands in, in 28 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 19 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 flash flood. 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
July 2008Flash FloodHennepin$50,000Torrential rains eroded several roads south and west of McNabb, IL and in the vicinity of Florid, IL during the morning of July 12.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindHennepin$5,000Tree down on car. Time estimated based on radar.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindHennepin$2,000A few trees down in Hennepin. South of town several 12 to 16 inch diameter trees (mainly rotted) were also downed.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Public measured wind equipement.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Garage door blown in on a home, with multiple 3 inch diameter tree branched down. Time estimated from radar data.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Multiple small trees up to 8 inches in diameter snapped at base or uprooted. Time estimated from radar data.
April 2026Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Measured winds of 58 mph.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Numerous trees blown down, blocking roads south of Hennepin.
March 2025Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Several power poles were snapped off between Hennepin and Mark. 1400 power customers are without power.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindHennepin-An 8 inch diameter tree limb down. The time was estimated from radar data.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Eight inch diameter tree snapped near the sheriff's office, with branches downed around town.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindHennepin-The COOP Observer reported a large tree knocked down in their yard. The time of the event was estimated using radar.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindHennepin-The COOP observer reported several tree limbs down, and power out for several hours. Also had a 2 inch diameter, 6 foot tall apple tree uprooted. The time of the event was estimated using radar.
June 2020Thunderstorm WindHennepin-The COOP Observer reported a tree down and several other large tree limbs down on the garage. A wind gauge over the garage door measured a peak gust of 60 MPH. They also reported golf ball sized hail.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindHennepin-The top of a large cedar tree was reported down in a yard.
March 2017Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Numerous trees were down on State Route 26 across the county. Time was estimated by radar.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Tree limbs up to the diameter of 3 inches were damaged. This was a delayed report with the time estimated by local radar data.
June 2015HailHennepin-Emergency management reported quarter size hail.
June 2015HailHennepin-Quarter size hail was reported through social media by public.
June 2015HailHennepin-Quarter size hail fell for 15 continuous minutes.
June 2015Flash FloodHennepin-Law Enforcement reported water over both lanes of Highway 26.
June 2015HailHennepin-Law enforcement reported quarter size hail and heavy rain.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Several tree branches that were 1 to 2 inches in diameter were reported down.
March 2007Thunderstorm WindHennepin-Sheriffs department reported several power lines down along with some smaller branches in the Hennepin area.
April 2000HailHennepin-Pea-sized hail reported by trained spotter.
June 2020HailHennepin-no account filed
June 2015HailHennepin-no account filed
May 2000Thunderstorm WindHennepin-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Putnam 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

2 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
Edward Pulsifer House0.4 miles1979
Cortland Condit House5.7 miles1983

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 75000672 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Putnam CountyAll 3 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.