Jefferson County Courthouse (Illinois)

The first settlers in the county were Andrew Moore and his family, who arrived in 1810, but he and one of his sons were killed by Indians,[1]: 122  and his wife and her remaining children left and settled in Equality.

[1]: 136  A few individuals wished for a different location, but no significant dissension ever arose,[2]: 33  and the commissioners chose "Mount Vernon" as the name of the new town, due to their reverence for George Washington.

[2]: 37 At their first meeting, the county commissioners' court ordered the construction of a courthouse, to be a simple log building 18 by 20 feet (5.5 m × 6.1 m) with a single door and window, and to be completed by September 1819.

The situation changed completely on a calm, quiet night in 1839; the first people stirring in the morning discovered that the courthouse had partially collapsed, leaving a hole on one side large enough to drive a wagon through, and the remains were pulled down with ropes.

Their hands having been forced, the commissioners began making arrangements for a replacement,[1]: 306  a square brick building 40 feet (12 m) on each side with a cupola atop the roof.