Williamson County Courthouse (Illinois)

No county seat was named by the organic act; instead, the original officials were responsible to ascertain a location for the seat,[1]: 450  and they chose the location of Marion following a donation by local landowners.

Two years passed before the completion of the first courthouse, a square brick structure that stood until 1859, following the construction of a larger replacement.

[1]: 455  This building endured only until 1875, when it became one of the victims of a great fire that consumed the entire public square.

County officials spent the next ten years renting space in private buildings;[1]: 456  only in 1886 could they win voter agreement for their plans to erect a replacement.

However, the goal of energy efficiency prompted county officials to arrange for the construction of the present building in 1971, a modernist structure with no windows to allow heat to escape.