Gallatin County Courthouse (Illinois)

Gallatin County's first settler, Michael Sprinkle, established himself circa 1800 at the later site of Shawneetown.

[1]: 22  Other houses were first built at the site in 1804, and the town quickly prospered because of its proximity to the Great Salt Spring; even a federal land office opened in the city in 1814.

[1]: 53  Land was donated for courthouse construction in late 1815,[1]: 59  but a state law ordered the county seat's removal to Equality in 1827.

[1]: 67  A permanent courthouse was erected in Shawneetown in 1857, two stories tall with a tower topping the facade.

[4] State aid was given to purchase land in the center of the county, and the two-year process of building a new planned community began by July.