Metamora Courthouse, Illinois, United States

5karen m 5:00 PM Jun 6, 2016

Great little town court house
Great place to relive Lincoln and his trip to the court house. They are open Friday nights during summer next to band concerts at the gazebo. Fun event for families!

5Taylor B 5:00 PM Oct 1, 2015

Another historic stop on the Lincoln Trail
For several years, my wife and I drove through Metamora on our way to Peoria to cover or observe the boys state high school basketball tournament finals. As a long-time sportswriter who covered Illinois high school sports for more than 40 years, I am familiar with Metamora's considerable achievements as a high school football power. And as an historian, mostly of the Civil War, I was aware of Metamora's past as a site of one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. And, of course, there is the Metamora Courthouse. I hadn't taken the time to visit it until recently. My oversight. The Metamora Courthouse was built in 1845 and served as the center of county government until the county seat was moved to Eureka in 1896. It is one of two surviving courthouses on the historic Eighth Judicial Circuit traveled by Abraham Lincoln in the 1850s. In 1978, the courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The first floor of the two-story brick structure contains a central hall flanked by two exhibit rooms, one displaying artifacts of early local history, the other with exhibits describing the 1850s court system and Lincoln's life on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. On the second floor, the former courtroom and two small chambers are furnished to represent the era during which Lincoln practiced law. Visitors may take guided tours of the building or view the rooms and exhibits on their own. A 10-minute video history of the building, which includes images and interpretation of the second floor, is available for viewing. Among the artifacts are mid-19th century clothing, old spinning wheels and pianos, items dating to the Civil War and pre-Civil War photographs of the town and the courthouse. For historians who can't get enough of the courthouse, the site where Lincoln and Douglas debated is located in the park across the street. In Metamora, that almost beats a football game on Friday night.