May 17, 2003 - Carlinville, IL - 8

Rather than wax the truck, I let myself get talked into running into town with Barb to see this Ginkgo tree with  its fan-shaped leaves, rather unusual.  Barb had seen the tree on the "girls day off" as it was next to a thrift store the women enjoyed visiting.

Now this is a pretty imposing building for a town the size of Carlinville, Illinois,  population approximately 5,700.  It's the Macoupin County Courthouse, in spite of the fact that there's no sign so indicating.  Been here since 1870, and mostly original.  The floor is marble and slate, and while showing its age, is still impressive.

The pelicans are said to suck blood from their bosom for food to protect their young, symbolizing protection for the county.  Until the furniture was brought in, there was nothing combustible in the building.  The walls are brick, overlaid with magnesium limestone quarried in Indiana and shipped in by train.  The ceilings, doors, and window casements are all iron.

The storage (files?) in this room goes from floor to ceiling, and those little boxes near the top looked almost like bank safe deposit boxes.  The ornate ironwork of the staircase is elegant.

The wolf looking down represents evil, and the dog staring at him represents good; the dog faces the wolf to ward off evil--symbolic of the court's justice.  And then a small courtroom for traffic court.

The judge's chair in the main courtroom is walnut, over 7' tall, and was hand carved in Italy.  It's so heavy that originally it had wheels and sat on rails, and the bailiff would push the judge up to his bench after he was seated.  It's no longer in use, except by tourists like us.

The lions head carving on the arm rests are to symbolize strength, and the jury member chair Barb is sitting in is original, and still in use today.

The judge's bench is made up of seven varieties of Italian marble.  A special act of Congress was passed so the marble could be imported without taxes or duties.  The dome is 45 feet high, the ceiling is 32 feet high.

I was sitting at the judge's bench for these two shots.  The room will seat approximately 450 people, and you can see what appears to be an ink stain on the walnut bench, and beyond that the Italian marble.

Each bench is made of solid walnut trimmed with iron, and cost $3,300 when placed in 1870.  I tried to move one and could only make it creak a bit.  Because of their weight, they are not fastened to the floor in any way.

The view from the main entry doors.  Each door weighs 2,000 pounds, and once you get it moving, a single finger will keep it moving until closed.  The lion with the ring in its mouth is said to symbolize the majesty of the law.  According to Linda (our impromptu tour guide), one time the janitor was vacuuming the carpet with the large vacuum cord running out the door.  Someone shut the door on the cord and it severed it without even pausing.

One of the several steam radiators no longer in use, but original.  Air-conditioning and electric heat are used today.  It took 3 painters 6 weeks to repaint the interior.

One of the minor domes in the ceiling with hanging chandelier.  Note the gold-colored harps on the outer circumference.  Couldn't find out the meaning of this except that before it was all repainted, you couldn't see the harps as they were all painted black.  And that is one big chair (not to mention, beautiful)!

The woman with Barb is Linda.  She's worked in here for 25 years, transcribing the court reporters notes.  She was also responsible for getting and training the juries in the past.  She was getting her exercise walking around the place with earphones in when she spotted us taking pictures.  She spent the next 30 minutes or so with us explaining things about the building. The elegance of the building is also evident by the beautiful decorations on the underside of the stairwells.

Another shot of the stairwell overhead, and me holding up one of the columns in the front of the building--immense in height and girth.

The original jailhouse from 1869 is across the street from the courthouse and is no longer in use.  Couldn't fit the entire courthouse in a picture, dang it.  Too tall.  The dome stands 168 feet above the foundation.  It was painted gold in 1966, but within hours it turned a real kaki green due the the material used in its covering, so had to revert to silver.  There was quite a scandal over the original building of the courthouse.  In 1867 the Illinois legislature authorized Macoupin County to issue $50,000 in bonds to build it.  Three years later, at a cost of $1,380,500, it was completed.  Took 40 years for the county of 32,000 people to pay off the bonds!  The judge that was supposed to be the first judge in there built a 50-room, 4-story hotel out of the same limestone the courthouse is built out of.  He claimed it was left over and he'd obtained it legally.  Perhaps.  Nevertheless, none of the people who built it ever got to serve in it as the voters threw them all out of office.  All kinds of speculation as to what actually happened, as one George Holliday skipped town just as the investigation was getting underway never to be seen again.  He was the county clerk who was to have overseen the projects finances.  

Is this a great lifestyle or what?  You should give it a try sometime.  If you don't like it, you can always go back to a house that sits in one place.