Day 7 - Carlinville Courthouse
Day 7 - Carlinville Courthouse - A scandal to this very day!!!
By this time I was trying to determine how to get back on the Interstate. It looked like the original road would basically T-bone into it. On the way, I went through Carlinville and recalled a guide book mentioning how their courthouse had been built back in 1870 at a scandalous cost of $1M. That would equate to over $20M today, for a town that probably had less than 3,000 inhabitants at the time.
So I drove through the town square, which was quite attractive, and brick paved I might note. I saw the dome of the Courthouse looming over the four story buildings. Hmm. That is rather large.
As I drove just a block from the town square, there it was. It was MASSIVE. Maybe as big or bigger than most state capitol buildings! I could not get far enough away to get the whole thing in the picture. So I moved down the street a block. It was there I met a local citizen and his dog, to whom I commented, "That thing is Massive"!
Oh boy. He began a rant about the scandal, like it was yesterday. How carpetbaggers stole from the civil war chest to try to influence the location of the state capitol. "Those M...Fer's did this and financed their own lavish homes with the same funds. (The dog looked like he had heard this rant numerous times!)
He pointed out the perimeter concrete base surrounding the building, stating that it was the foundation to the steel bar fence they built to protect themselves from the protesters. He said the leader had the gall to build a 4 story house in the town square under the guise of an office building, but he had lived there right from the beginning. The last pic is of this building. Note the same stone is used as for the Courthouse. Last picture is of this building downtown.
.jpg)
Wow, that is a beautiful building!
ReplyDeleteThe way these funds were used almost sounds like it was in Russia and Putin and his gang were the culprits. I guess that kind of people can be found everywhere. And now we know the story - thank to the Angry Bird and the angry citizen and his patient dog. Dogs put up with a lot. Thanks John.
DeleteThe story isn't true. Illinois was a northern state. Carpetbaggers were in the South during reconstruction. Wiki says it was part of a bid to have Carlinville considered as the state capital, but no other drama.
Deletehttps://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IL-01-117-0054
"...the most extravagant courthouse in Illinois has been surrounded by rumors and conspiracy theories since the day the first stone was laid in 1867"
Well, I liked the local citizens fervor and it makes for a better story.
Delete👍
Delete