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Rameen: Welcome to City Spotlight.
On this program, we have been learned about
communities from Marshall to Taylorville,
Arthur to Effingham, and places in between,
from community leaders across Central and
East Central Illinois.
We have also been able to feature events and
places that help shape the towns we have had
on City Spotlight.
On this episode of City Spotlight, we are
going to take an extended look at the Edgar
County Courthouse, in Paris.
To help us learn about the Edgar County Courthouse,
we talked with Edgar County Historian, Heck
Parrish.
We learned about the history of this courthouse,
which is situated in the downtown of Paris.
And we also got a guided tour thru the Edgar
County Courthouse with Mr. Parrish, as we
walked all the way to the top, and the walk
up to the top of the Edgar County Courthouse
was well worth it, as we had a sunny day to
view Paris, and Edgar County from the top
of the courthouse.
Hope you enjoy this episode of City Spotlight
on the Edgar Coounty Courthouse in Paris.
Rameen:
All your researches and discoveries that you've
done and the many things that you've done
as a historian, I take it the Edgar County
Courthouse, from what I have learned about
you, is there are not many things that you
love more than this courthouse.
Heck Parrish:
I've been a fan of this courthouse, if you
could call it a fan, probably for, I'm 74
years old, so probably about 70, because my
granddad in the early 40's used to walk me
around the square.
He had a business up here.
When we got done in the evening, and I was
a tyke, he'd walk me around and I always was
in awe of this wonderful building behind us.
Often he would take me in the courthouse to
see the judges and the clerks.
I've met a lot of wonderful people.
I have a lot of friends through the years
who have worked in this building and today
have some great friends in here.
I'm in it a lot, do a lot of research from
the courthouse.
It's just a great thing.
It's a great building full of history and
I've studied it in depth for 30 years and
love studying it, love the building.
Rameen:
You've been in it many times personally and
being an historian, you've researched it for
30 years, so you know quite a bit.
Let's tell the folks at home a little history
about it.
When did this building go up?
Heck Parrish:
The building was started in 1891.
The citizens of the county wanted a courthouse.
Here on this stake there had been 2 courthouses
before.
The first courthouse had been across the street
at Pearman Pharmacy where it is now.
Then they built a courthouse here.
That was called the Old Rookery.
It was called the Old Rookery because as it
got older around 1860, it started falling
apart, basically.
Roof had holes in it, windows were knocked
out, holes in the walls.
The people that used the upper floor of that
courthouse were mostly pigeons, not people.
So they called it the Old Rookery.
In 1865, that building was sold for $81 and
they demolished it.
This lot here, the square, the inside of the
square, set vacant for 5 years.
The people decided they wanted a courthouse.
They passed a referendum to fund it, the job
was let to the Hibbert brothers from Ohio,
2 brothers, and they started building this
courthouse in 1893.
Now that's really brief because there's a
lot more that goes to this story.
It was started to be built in 1891.
In 1891 in November that year they had the
cornerstone laid for this building.
The Masonic Lodge, which is right here across
the street, laid the cornerstone, huge ceremony.
If you look at the courthouse, the first steps
that go up to the first landing, that was
all just a platform.
That platform was full of people.
There were 24,000 people at that celebration.
They came from all over by train, horse and
buggy, wagon, stagecoach.
The square was full of people.
Huge parade and they all set on that platform.
Of course, after the cornerstone was laid,
the courthouse they started building and it
was finished in 1893.
There was no dedication to the courthouse
when it was finished because the weather got
sour.
It was in November, so this courthouse was
never dedicated.
The cornerstone was dedicated, but when it
was finished there was no ceremony because
of the weather.
Then, you could ask questions about that afterwards.
They moved in, it was a long process.
Furniture, they had to outfit all the offices.
From 1893 until now, there she stands.
One story I might have had about that.
The tower, the clock tower was an afterthought.
If you look at the courthouse just where the
tile roof is, the red from there up wasn't
going to be there.
After about a year and a half of construction,
the citizens thought they wanted a clock tower.
It's described in flowery words in all of
the minutes of what they wanted.
At that time, you could see that clock tower
from miles around, that's how big ... Those
clocks are 7 foot tall.
That's how the clock tower came into ... it
was an afterthought.
Rameen:
Great history of the Edgar County Courthouse.
125 years it's been here.
Beautiful history.
Thank you for telling us some of that.
If you could tell us of a recent renovation.
When was the last major renovation done to
the building?
Heck Parrish:
The last major renovation was just a few years
ago when they rebuilt the tower.
The building itself right now is going under
renovation.
Roof leaks, they've got some issues.
They're doing that as funding is available.
The building's going to be saved.
One story that's interesting, in the 1940's,
the tower was so dilapidated that the county
board was going to demolish it.
They were going to take that tower off.
It actually passed by a vote.
There were only 2 negative votes about taking
this tower off the courthouse.
The citizens revolted and they said, "No way.
You're going to leave the tower on."
They actually put it to a vote, so the tower
was repaired.
The statue has been down once.
Well twice with this last renovation, but
once before that.
She's been worked on a million times.
Her arms fell off, the scales fell off.
That's all been taken care of as it happened.
Rameen:
We're going to take a tour of the Edgar County
Courthouse in just a second.
I have one last question for you Heck.
The importance, the significance of this courthouse
for downtown Paris, the residents of Edgar
County, what does it mean to all these people?
Heck Parrish:
It's extremely, extremely important that this
building is here and remains here.
Everything legal is done in that building.
Hundreds of attorneys, dozens of attorneys,
dozens of citizens are in and out of this
building on a yearly basis.
The recorder's office, the circuit clerk's
office, the judge's chambers, the state's
attorney's chambers, everything is done here.
Hence, the square is alive basically because
of that building.
If you go to all the small towns around Paris-size
down, 10,000 people down, the squares are
just falling apart.
Everything's moving out to big box stores,
malls and Paris is like that some, but you
can see if you look around the square, there
are still quite a few businesses here and
the Chamber of Commerce and the mayor, they
are constantly trying to find people to come
and move into these buildings and they are.
Some of it's used furniture, Benjamin's has
been here for over 100 years, Pearman's Pharmacy's
been here since the 1850's, 40's, the banks
have always been here.
In fact, there was a brand new bank built
just right here.
New building.
That's what they thought about the square.
The people that are really interested in this.
It's crucial because it brings people downtown
Paris.
It keeps the community alive because there's
a lot of activities on this square throughout
the year.
There's a couple festivals right here on the
square.
The Christmas pageant brought hundreds of
people here the last couple of years in the
dead of winter.
It's crucial that this building remain here
and it's just wonderful that it is.
The people that have made it possible for
this building to remain here should be congratulated
and thanked for making it possible that this
building remain here.
There's been movement to move it.
There's been movement to move these offices
out, but they've opted to renovate, remodel,
and keep them here.
God bless them for doing it.
Rameen:
Thank you for your history, Heck, on the Edgar
County Courthouse.
We can definitely see the passion and love
for it.
Now we're going to wrap up this show on Paris,
here on City Spotlight.
We're going to take a tour of the Edgar County
Courthouse now.
Heck Parrish:
As you can see, we're in the Edgar County
Courthouse and we're on the second floor.
The first floor is the basement.
It's considered the first floor and there's
a lot of storage down there, a lot of valuable
papers.
It's small, it's musty, there's a little bird
issue down there, so we're not going to go
down there, but we are going to start here
on the second floor.
As you can see, there are murals on the wall.
Those murals were consigned in 1891 when the
courthouse was built.
You'll see one on the third floor that was
donated by the Chicago World's Fair in 1892.
It's called the Merchants of Venice.
The wainscoting, all of the marble, the steps
and all the marble on the wainscoting was
brought here by rail from St. Louis from the
Pickle Marble Company in 1891.
The clock, the big regulator clock that you
see over here was put in after the courthouse
was build, of course.
These floors are original floors.
They're marble.
On this floor is the Circuit Clerk's office,
the County Clerk's office and the sheriff's
office.
The sheriff is in charge at the courthouse.
The county clerk actually is in charge of
the operation of the courthouse.
There is one courtroom on the second floor.
They have just restored this courtroom and
we'll walk in here.
In fact, we can walk in right now.
You'll see that they found the original floors.
They took up a bunch of tile and it actually
cleaned up.
What you're seeing is the tile that was put
down circa 1893.
Of course, this was one of the last things
that was done.
When we go back outside, you'll see in the
middle of this building is an elevator.
That elevator was put in by mandate in the
Federal Disabilities Act years ago and it's
one of the big issues that I have with the
courthouse because I think it was done wrong.
One of my objectives is to get that elevator
moved outside because this rotunda you can
see all the way to the top of the bell tower
if you look straight up.
The elevator took that visibility, that view
away, so you can't do that anymore.
Back when I was a kid, actually up until the
50's, they had a huge Christmas tree that
sat right in the middle of this rotunda and
it was beautiful.
Beautiful ornaments, everybody came in to
see it.
We'll go out here, out on to the main floor
in the main area.
You can see the murals.
The floor around the elevator is new.
Of course, the elevator is new.
The marble steps are just the way they were
in the 1890's when they built the building
and so is the zinc-stamped ceiling.
If you look up above that elevator, you'll
see where it's gone through and they closed
off the old rotunda, so you can't see up there
anymore.
There's a lighted sconce here.
These stained glass windows were all throughout
the courthouse and they were also up into
the tower, where, that's our eventual is to
get up into the tower, but that's a sample
of what the windows were like.
You can see a lot of the glass over the doorways,
for instance, there's cut glass windows that
are quite pretty.
Actually, they're beautiful.
Rameen:
Where are we at now, Heck?
Heck Parrish:
We're on the third floor.
This floor houses the State's Attorney's office
and the judge's chambers, a courtroom, and
the library, as well as the probation office.
The Circuit Judges are Steve Garst and Matt
Sullivan.
It's the fifth judicial district.
Judge Garst is the presiding judge.
They cover civil and criminal cases.
You can see the floor is the same as it is
downstairs, but the wainscoting up here is
walnut.
It's wooden instead of marble.
The staircase over here that goes up ... From
the time you enter the building to the top
of the bell tower, you've climbed 159 steps.
It's a lot of steps.
This staircase here is an African wood that
was imported to do the staircase.
If you come a little closer here, if you look
up ... We're going to climb this staircase
to go on up and you can see more stained glass.
The top of the elevator, the ceiling up there,
is all stained glass.
They painted over it to match the d�cor.
Judge Bristol held court here.
He started in Edgar County.
He was a Supreme Court judge for the State
of Illinois.
This is Judge Cotton.
He was a Circuit Judge from 51-71.
They were both good friends of mine, believe
it or not.
Cotton was a wonderful guy.
He had a sense of humor that was just out
of this world.
He was a good judge.
He was a good friend of my dad's and mine.
This is the upstairs courtroom.
You could call it the main courtroom.
This has all been remodeled.
In the 1800's up until about 1960, I'd have
to verify the date on this, this was all remodeled.
The courtroom actually was reversed.
The courtroom set like this.
This was the jury room, that door was the
jury room and then upstairs, which you're
going to see in a minute, there were balconies
where the spectators could sit, not only in
here but upstairs.
It held 1600 people.
This room and those balconies upstairs.
They could get 1600 people in here for major
trials that the people were really interested
in.
This room, it holds history, but it's a nice
room.
We'll go upstairs.
We'll take a tour of the tower.
The mural that you're looking at now is what
they call the Palace of the Mechanical Arts
and that's the mural that was dedicated from
the Chicago World's Fair in the early 1800's.
They donated that to Edgar County to place
in this building.
The other murals downstairs, they're all hand
painted, they're all oils.
They've been restored.
The odd thing about it is, nobody knows who
painted them.
There's no names on the back, they're not
signed, nobody has a clue.
The consensus is that they were probably done
by students in Chicago.
They were done in Chicago, but nobody knows
who did them and they're beautiful.
What you're looking at right now are the doors
that lead into the balcony.
One of the balconies that looked over the
original courtroom up until about 1960 when
they redid it.
That, of course, is used for air conditioning.
You can see there's tears in there where the
chairs were.
The courtroom was right below this little
wall built across here.
You can see it held a lot of people.
There's a lot of people that could watch these
trials.
They were quite interesting, actually.
Where we're going, we're going on up, so we're
going to go over here where it says "Keep
Out".
Now we're going on up into the tower.
Actually we're going into the attic and then
we're going into the tower.
Watch your step.
This courthouse tower was closed off in the
40's because they had some vandalism.
Kids would get up here and play as I did.
There was probably a liability hazard at the
time, so they opted to lock the tower up.
You're getting kind of a privileged tour of
this.
What you're about to see, I've taken scores
of people up to the top of this over the last
dozen years, and it's not something that you
can't do, but you have to have an appointment
to do it.
I kind of have to clear it with the clerk
to get in here.
I'm up there a lot.
Every 60 or 70 days or so, I climb up there
to make sure the windows are good, just because
I like to go up for one thing and look at
the sights and the sounds.
I love to feel the wind.
When the wind's blowing hard, 40, 50 mile
an hour, the tower moves.
It's designed to move.
It's pretty awesome, it's like being on a
boat.
This is the attic you're in now.
You can see the brick structure and all of
the woodwork.
When you first come into the courthouse from
outside, to the top of the bell tower is 159
steps.
The tower itself is 159 feet tall.
That's to the top of the statue.
It's the tallest edifice in the county.
You can see, as you're going to witness in
a moment or two, miles and miles and miles,
when we get up there and we've got a beautiful
day to do it because the sun's shining and
it's neat.
What you're looking at right now is the first
three layers of the wedding cake.
You're not seeing the top yet.
You're seeing the floor of the top where the
clock's housed, where the clock works is housed.
You've got above that another floor is the
bell.
That's where we're going now very carefully.
You've only got three more flights of stairs.
Rameen:
All right, Heck, did we make it to the top?
Heck Parrish:
We're almost to the top.
You've got one more flight of stairs to go
to get to the bell.
This is the clock works right here.
I know that window's filthy, but that's a
Seth Thomas model 16.
It was driven by 2 pendulums that weighed
1500 pounds.
That's what rang the chimes on the bell.
This graffiti is mostly recent up here, but
down on the lower level, some of that graffiti
goes back to the 1800's.
I'm going to open one or two of these windows
for you.
From this window you're looking due east.
It'll be hard to describe from here, but on
the horizon, a little bit south of east, you'll
see a small tower.
That tower is in Indiana.
Straight east of here, I'm looking at a tower
that is almost impossible for me to describe
where it is, but that's Clinton, Indiana and
it's right on the Wabash River.
That is about 17 miles due east of here, is
how far that is.
From this view, you're looking southwest.
If Rameen zooms in looking a little bit west
of south, you can see a water tower.
That is Kansas, Illinois.
In the wintertime, you can actually see it,
but now with all the foliage, now you can't.
The big mill that you see in the immediate
foreground is the Illinois Cereal Mill.
That building is also 159 feel tall.
This building at the top of the statue beats
that in height by 6 inches.
This building is actually 6 inches higher
than the top of the Illinois Cereal Mill.
That's unless they have added more stuff to
the top to get the record on the Edgar County.
Rameen:
Okay, Heck, tell us what we're looking at
now.
Heck Parrish:
You're looking due west right now.
Because of the foliage, you don't see much,
but if you pan north you will eventually see
a grain elevator about 3 yards, Brocton, illinois.
To the instant right of that elevator will
be a water tower.
Because of the foliage, it might be out of
sight.
That's Newman, Illinois.
Rameen's going to pan around to the north
and you'll see Chrisman, Illinois.
You can see it very plainly.
The church in the foreground is St. Rose Roman
Catholic Church.
[bell ringing]
[music plays]
>>Rameen: City Spotlight is on youtube.
Past episodes can be viewed on East Central
Illinois towns, that have been featured on
City Spotlight.
Just search on youtube, City Spotlight with
the show number, and the name of the town.
Listed on your screen are the recent episodes
of City Spotlight.[music plays]
City Spotlight is supported by Consolidated
Communications.
CCI is honored to salute the cities and their
leaders in the area, as well as providing
TV, Internet, and phone service for the local
homes and businesses.
We live where we work, and are proud to support
the communities we serve.
More information available at consolidated.com.[music
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