A brief history of Logan County and its numerous political boundaries

 

[June 23, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

Diane Farmer brought her vast knowledge of the history of Logan County to the June meeting of the Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society.

Farmer focused on the many political boundaries that make up the county. One might think there are contiguous towns and cities in one county, but that is not the case. Logan County is made up of much more than that.

Diane Farmer highlights the few counties that existed in Illinois when it became a state in 1818. The rest of the counties were added over the next few decades, including Logan County in 1839.

Illinois was founded in 1818, and the outline of the state was set at that time. But, the final internal boundaries of the state, the counties, were not laid out until many years later. In 1818, a few counties existed in southern Illinois. “Logan County was not laid out until 1839 due to the efforts of a little known member of the Illinois General Assembly, Abraham Lincoln,” said Diane Farmer. Logan County was mostly carved out of part of Sangamon County, which was then the largest county in Illinois by area, and still is.

“When the boundaries of Logan County are viewed, a question that comes to mind is why wasn’t it just made into a rectangle, why the steps on the south and southwest side,” said Farmer.

Well, it seems that some of the landowners on the proposed borders wanted to stay in Sangamon County and some wanted to migrate to the newly designed Logan County. Abraham Lincoln had to satisfy all of his wealthy landowning constituents, so he went to work moving county borders here and there to satisfy these voters. The result is a sort of zigzag.

Once the county was formed, Abraham Lincoln proposed to name it after his friend in the Illinois General Assembly that was then meeting in Vandalia. “Dr. John Logan of Murphysboro received the honor of having a county named after him,” she said. Did Dr. Logan ever visit the county before it was subdivided from Sangamon County? Probably not, but politics and friendship ruled the day.

The boundary of Logan County and the 17 townships included within it. Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in founding Logan County and determining its boundaries.

As Logan County continued to develop, further divisions were drawn within it. These became known as townships. Eventually seventeen townships were created each with its own governing unit. Now there was a county government and a subset of political entities called townships. Each township eventually was governed by seven elected officials, four trustees, a clerk, supervisor, and the road and bridge commissioner. The township has taxing authority. The road and bridge commissioner has separate taxing authority. Check your latest property tax statement and you will see the two entities listed.

“The next divisions within Logan County were the towns and villages,” said Diane. These again had their own taxing and governing authority, sometimes overlapping the townships and county. Once the county was formed, a county seat had to be selected, the center of political power within the county.

The first county seat was Postville, a small village in the center of the county. A courthouse was constructed, used for government purposes, and abandoned when the county seat was moved to Mount Pulaski.

The original Postville Courthouse served as the county seat for Logan County from 1839 to 1847. After it was no longer used as a courthouse, it was a grocery store and private residence, among other uses. It was sold in 1929 to Henry Ford, disassembled, and moved to a museum in Michigan. The courthouse was on the Eighth Judicial Circuit that Mr. Lincoln rode during his days as a traveling lawyer. A replica of the Postville Courthouse was built on the site in 1953.

Mount Pulaski was the county seat from 1847 until 1853. This courthouse still stands and is considered an historic structure. Mr. Lincoln practiced law in its courtrooms.

A courthouse was constructed in Mount Pulaski to house the offices of county government and courtrooms.

Then the town of Lincoln was founded in 1853 by Mr. Lincoln and his friends, and the county seat was moved to Lincoln.

The second Logan County Courthouse in Lincoln served from 1858 until 1903 on the site of the current courthouse. The first Logan County Courthouse in Lincoln burned down in 1847. No renderings of it remain.

The current and third Logan County Courthouse is represented on a brochure during construction in 1903. It took several votes of the electorate to get permission to build it. Most people were opposed to its construction.

Construction specifications for the current Logan County Courthouse in Lincoln are part of the Genealogical Society’s collection. A Lincoln architectural firm designed it.

A courthouse was built to house county offices and courtrooms in Lincoln. Then, it burned down. A second Logan County courthouse was built in Lincoln, Lincoln now the permanent county seat as it turned out. That courthouse lasted until the first decade of the twentieth century, when a third courthouse was built in downtown Lincoln. It still stands.

There is more. Remember the towns and villages that were built within the boundaries of Logan County with their own borders? Well, some of them went on to thrive and some disappeared into the mists of time. “Fogarty, Bell, Evans, Harness, Mount Joy and others have disappeared,” said Farmer. Do you know where they were located?

Logan County has a rich history. Diane Farmer knows all about it, and her presentation was a view into olden times that began only a few years after the founding of the United States, and Illinois.

The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meets the third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at their collection and research facility across the street from the newly renovated Lincoln Depot. Visitors are welcome, and there is always an interesting presentation.

[Curtis Fox]