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Pittsfield
(Pike County)
While many towns throughout Illinois like to claim
“President Lincoln slept here,”
Pittsfield is one of a handful of places that can confidently make
that claim. Lincoln practiced as a lawyer in the Pike County Courts and
it was here that Lincoln met John George Nicolay and John Hay, who would
leave Illinois with President-elect Lincoln and serve as his private
secretaries in the White House. While the current Pike County Courthouse
replaced the one where Lincoln practiced, this 1894 replacement is
considered one of the most picturesque county courthouses in the state
and is included in the Pittsfield National Register Historic District,
designated in 1980. It also was selected as one of
AIA Illinois’ 150 Great Places in Illinois, as part of the AIA’s
150th anniversary celebration.
In 1968, Pittsfield enacted the second preservation ordinance in the
state, following Galena. However, several years ago it was repealed and
replaced with a weaker, non-binding ordinance, leaving hundreds of
locally landmarked buildings now without protection. Local
preservationists are working with Pittsfield’s new mayor to address this
problem. One of Pittsfield’s best known landmarks, the Pittsfield East
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School, was saved from demolition through local landmark designation
against the wishes of the local school board in the 1970s. The building,
while officially unprotected, is in safe hands under ownership of the
Pike County Historical Society, which received a Landmarks Illinois
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Preservation Award
in 2005 for the restoration of the school’s clock tower.
Downtown commercial buildings on the courthouse square were recently
renovated with the assistance of the city of Pittsfield’s façade loan
program. Design assistance was given by the architectural staff of the
Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency )through
Pittsfield
Main Street.
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photos Information on other Western Illinois communities.
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