Carlinville is named for Thomas Carlin,[5] seventh governor of Illinois, who as a member of the state legislature was instrumental in creating Macoupin County.

[citation needed] Locally, it is known as "The Million Dollar Courthouse" due to its cost overruns at the time it was built.

An entire neighborhood was constructed of the homes and was funded, in 1918, by Standard Oil of Indiana for its mineworkers in Carlinville, at a cost of approximately one million dollars.

[6] One notable resident of Carlinville was American entomologist Charles Robertson, who carried out what is still the single most intensive study of flower-visiting insects of a single locality (Carlinville), culminating in a 221-page book published in 1928 under the title Flowers and Insects.

This is presumably due to the existence of bee habitat in hedgerows, on slopes, and in other non-agricultural land in the survey area.

[7] Other notable Carlinvillians include nature writer and novelist Mary Hunter Austin, once called "the most intelligent woman in America" by H.G.

The Carlinville Amtrak station is served directly by five daily trains, offering easy access south to St. Louis and north to Springfield and Chicago.

The Illinois Terminal Railroad, an electric interurban to St. Louis from Springfield that once provided both freight and passenger service, passed down the middle of Carlinville's West Street.

Its trestle crossing Goat Hollow south of Carlinville burned severing the line, which was then abandoned.

A small portion of the line is used by Monterey Coal Co. mine to connect with the former Chicago and North Western Transportation Company L & M District, serving coal-fired power plants.