Taylorville Courthouse Square Historic District

Taylorville's courthouse square and the surrounding central business district form a compact historic district of 84 buildings, 67 of them contributing. At its center stands the three-story, rock-faced limestone Romanesque Revival courthouse, built in 1902 with a 40-foot clock tower. Around it are two and three story brick commercial buildings in Italianate, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, Prairie School-related and Moderne styles, along with a 1904 Mission Style library, a 1917 post office and a few frame houses. The county seat began with a small frame building in 1839, and growth quickened after a railroad arrived in 1869. Most surviving buildings date from 1875 to 1930, the period of significance. Many storefronts have been altered, yet upper-floor windows and cornices often remain. The square has no missing buildings in its street faces, and its 80-foot-wide streets give the courthouse a strong setting. Upper floors are often empty and deteriorating.