Many of the courthouses I’ve been to are dignified structures that command respect and solemnity. If massive columns, intricate stonework, and imposing statues weren’t enough, most sit on an expansive green festooned with cannons, war memorials, and commemorative plaques. It’s rare to stumble across an irreverent courthouse, but I got a good laugh at the one in Douglas County, Illinois!
I’ve been to about two hundred courthouses across the Midwest. I’m from Muncie, Indiana, so most of my trips have taken me to Ohio, Michigan, and places like Lafayette or Fort Wayne. I rarely make it to the Prairie State, but an opportunity to visit Muncie, Illinois, put me in easy reach of six courthouses nearby. Douglas County’s in tiny Tuscola was last on my list.
Douglas County was founded in 1859 and named after Stephen A. Douglas, a senator famous for his debates with Abraham Lincoln1. Officials initially named Camargo the county seat based on a survey that left out residents of Tuscola and Arcola. Once they got a chance to participate, Tuscola won the majority vote2! The county seat relocated two months later and it’s been there ever since.
Tuscola was little more than a prairie crossroads when it was named the seat of Douglas County. At first, officials held court at the new Illinois Central Railroad building. Later trials were conducted in a general store that housed the largest room in the county. The first official courthouse, a wooden structure completed with private funds, was built in 18613.
The first substantial courthouse in Douglas County was a two-story brick building designed by Chicago architect O.L. Kingley4. Erected in 1866, the Italianate structure stood at the center of the town square and featured a two-tiered, forty-foot5 belfry6. The second courthouse remained in use for forty-five years.
Unlike many rural communities hesitant to pay taxes, the residents of Douglas County were “jubilant” over the 1911 decision to build a new courthouse. The building and its basement jail had been in disrepair for years, and forward-thinking officials had set aside $150,000 to fund every penny of its replacement7. The community rallied around the concept of a new courthouse, and commissioners hired Joseph W. Royer to design it.
Thirty-eight at the time, Royer had found regional fame as the city engineer of Urbana, Illinois. After starting his own architecture firm in 1905, he completed five courthouses in Illinois and another in Iowa. In addition, he drew plans for the Warren County Courthouse in Williamsport, Indiana. I thought his name sounded familiar!
Royer turned in a neoclassical design for the Douglas County Courthouse, and W.M. Allen & Son of Peoria were awarded the contract to build it8. Unfortunately, a quirk in the deed to the square said its land would revert to its original owner if the courthouse was ever moved. To get around it, sneaky commissioners set up temporary quarters nearby9.
A cornerstone was laid in a Masonic ceremony on 11/11/1110, and the courthouse was formally dedicated a year and a half later. The squat, 2.5-story building stood in stark contrast to its predecessor. “While the exterior of the building is extremely angular,” the local paper opined, “the decorations on the interior are more beautiful and elaborate than first supposed11.”
I don’t know anything about the interior, but the nine-bay Douglas County Courthouse faces west. The main entrance projects from the rest of the structure and features four engaged columns that frame vertical three-over-three windows. According to period postcards, a heavy cornice over the entryway was removed by the early 1940s.
The rest of the courthouse is dominated by horizontally coursed limestone, elaborate modillions, and a tall pediment. Unfortunately, some of the best views of the building are obscured by the foliage of the square! It took a lot of hunting to get passable photos, and I still came away with far fewer than I’d have liked.
Fortunately, I had a perfect view of an abandoned church as I lapped the square. According to a commemorative plate listed on eBay, the forlorn structure was once home to the Tuscola Christian Church. The congregation was organized in 1863 after a group made plans in the basement of the first wooden courthouse.
After holding services in a nearby grade school, the congregation built its own frame sanctuary in 1865. The brick structure near the courthouse came twenty-seven years later. At some point, the church renamed itself South Side Christian. Now the building sits in decay.
I continued my photo walk and wrapped it up in front of the Douglas County Memorial Courthouse Gardens near the west side of the building. As I returned to the car, a metal sign caught my eye. “ATTENTION DOG GUARDIANS,” it implored. “PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOGS. THANK YOU.”
The message continued, but I didn’t expect it to veer into the absurd. “ATTENTION DOGS,” it continued. “GRRRRR, BARK, WOOF GOOD DOG.” I love it!
Douglas County ranks around the middle of Illinois’ counties as far as population is concerned. When it comes to humor, though, the place has to be near the top! Tuscola might be just another dot on the map for travelers taking the scenic route from Champaign to Effingham, but its neoclassical courthouse stands as the pride of residents and tourists alike. Whether you walk on two legs or four, you’ll get a kick out of the Douglas County Courthouse. As long as we all pick up after ourselves, I think it’ll continue to serve for another century or more.
TL;DR
Douglas County (pop. 19,714, 58/102)
Tuscola (pop. 4,650)
6/102 photographed
Built: 1913
Cost: $170,000 ($5.4 million today)
Architect: Joseph W. Royer
Style: Neoclassical
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 2.5 stories
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 11/7/2020
Sources Cited
1 Gannett, H. (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United St dates. Government Print Office [Washington, D.C.]. book.
2 Gresham, J. (1900). Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County Illinois. Wilson, Humphreys & Co. [Logansport]. Book.
3 Deacon, J. “Douglas County”. American Courthouses. 2008. Web. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
4 (See footnote 2).
5 (1907) Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Tuscola, Douglas County, Illinois. Sanborn Map Company, Aug. [Map]. Web. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
6 Courthouse History. Keith Vincent. 2018. Web. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
7 To Build New Courthouse (1911, June 15). The Mattoon Commercial-Star. p. 4.
8 Let Contract For New Court House (1911, October 6). The Mattoon Journal Gazette. p. 1.
9 (See footnote 7).
10 Brief Items of State Interest (1911, November 10). The Sibley Journal. p. 3.
11 Lai, B. (2012, 1913). Glancing Back. The Mattoon Journal Gazette. p. 5.
“Dog guardians” is a new one on me. I presume it refers to the owners or operators of dogs rather than at dogs who have been made guardians over either their owners or over others in the animal kingdom.
And I have to wonder at the use of “dog guardians” outside of the building where the laws are interpreted and enforced, because I suspect that dogs are in now way covered in Illinois’ guardianship code. I would expect such a thing outside of a pet spa,, but not outside of the courthouse, whose occupants would almost certainly have to concede that dogs are items of personal property. Listen to me be a lawyerly curmudgeon this morning.
I appreciate your curmudgeonry! Douglas County sure plays it fast and loose with their terminology.