The current structure, the third county courthouse, took three years to build and is considered a fine example of Beaux-Arts architecture.

The area now known as Courthouse Square in Kankakee, Illinois was originally used by the Potawatomi as a council ground.

The three-story building became a social center and trading place in addition to its capacities in county government.

On May 17, 1861, it was home to Kankakee County's only case of capital punishment when an African-American man was hanged from the second floor for the murder of a white girl.

In the 1930s, a protest with 200 farmers gathered at the courthouse to demand changes in property tax laws so that they would be paid after the harvest.

[1] A shooting took place at this courthouse on the morning of August 26, 2021, where an unknown shooter killed 2 and injured 1.