Old Customhouse - Cairo, Illinois
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 37° 00.167 W 089° 10.319
16S E 306739 N 4097386
Historic customhouse, courthouse and post office in Cairo, Illinois.
Waymark Code: WM6BGJ
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 05/08/2009
Views: 7
The Old Customhouse was constructed beginning in 1869 and completed in 1872. The building was designed by Alfred B. Mullet, chief architect in the Treasury Department, in an Italianate style. The building was a Post Office on the first floor, government offices on the second and a federal district courtroom on the third.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois met here until 1905; the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois met here from 1905 until 1942; the U.S. Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Illinois met here from 1905 until that court was abolished in 1912.
"The building is one of the largest monumental government buildings dating from the nineteenth century in the entire mid-Mississippi Valley. As such, it is an important link with the history and former prosperity and grandeur of that era of river commerce" - National Register Nomination Form
The building is now used as a museum.