Jersey County Courthouse - Jerseyville, IL - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

County of courthouse: Jersey County
Location of courthouse: Washington St. & Pearl St., Jerseyville
Date built: 1894
Architect: Henry Elliott
Contractor: Frederick W. Menke

"The present Jersey County Courthouse Courthouse is the third courthouse to occupy the Public Square, which was donated by the original owner specifically for county administrative buildings. The first courthouse, built one year after the organization of Jersey County in 1840, burned in 1884, and an interum building constructed after the fire was moved from the site in 1892 to make way for the present courthouse.

"The Jersey County board of supervisors submitted a proposition to vote $40,000 in bonds for the erection of a permanent courthouse. The vote approving the building's construction was 1,366 for and 977 against. On February 3, 1898,[sic] the plans of the architect, Henry Elliott, were approved, and the contractor, F.W. Menke of Quincy, Illinois, was accepted on April 11, 1893. The laying of the cornerstone of the new courthouse was celebrated by Jersey County citizens, the county board, and the county officers of Greene County on July 4, 1893. Construction was completed and the building occupied in the summer of 1894, in time for the September term of the circuit court. The total cost of the building was $40,411.85.

"The courthouse is a two-story Romanesque Revival building, augmented by a raised basement, a third story, lit by small windows just below the roofline, a dormered attic space, and a four-storied tiered tower. The building is 124½ feet high, 90 feet lone, and 71 feet wide. The cross-plan building is ruffed faced with buff-colored Grafton limestone and beige Bedford stone serves as contrasting trim. The front facade consists of two-story terminal towers and a central gabled section fronted by a one-storied porch with access to the raised first floor. The nearly-identically fenestrated side facades articulate the crossplan with projecting central, gabled pavilions. The rear facade is a simple three-bay block with a central gable in the roofline. The tower rises directly behind the front facade block, to the south of the building's center. It is supported by a square two-story base with projecting rectangular bays at the steeply-pi hip roofline. The tower itself is octagonal and the faceted dome with pinnacled gables rests on a round arch arcaded base. The square base and tower are presently sheathed in a silver-grey metal covering." ~ NRHP Nomination Form

"The first major period of growth in the city occurred from 1880 to 1916, and from that time to the present, Jerseyville's growth has since been steady and substantial. The majority of the commercial structures that are now located in the Downtown Historic District and Courthouse Square were built during this period. It was also during this time that the present Jersey County Courthouse was built. The two story, 124-foot-tall (38 m) Romanesque Revival building was completed in 1893, and is considered to be one of the most aesthetic courthouses in the area." ~ Wikipedia listing for Jerseyville, Illinois