Knoxville: The County Seat That Lost a Courthouse Fight

Knoxville was the first seat of Knox County, platted in eighteen thirty-one on the western Illinois prairie. Its courthouse, completed in eighteen thirty-nine, handled the county's legal business for more than three decades. Then Galesburg grew.

A railroad hub with a college and a busier economy, Galesburg began pushing to become the new county seat, and the two towns fought a prolonged political and legal war over the question. A county-wide vote was held, and both sides accused the other of ballot fraud. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in eighteen seventy-two that while there had been fraud on both sides, Galesburg had won more legitimate votes.

The county seat moved west to Galesburg in eighteen seventy-three. The old Knoxville courthouse lost its purpose but gained a second life. For over a century it housed the Knoxville Public Library, which moved out in nineteen seventy-eight.

Today the building stands as a museum, a monument to a political rivalry that Knoxville lost to its larger neighbor.