M O R R I S O N
Album of
M E M O R I E S
Postcard image contributed by JohnKelly
Morrison, at that time, was a newly laid out community, sparsely
populated. John Furlong piloted the train in.
The next day his small house was moved in on a flat car
from what is now called Round Grove.
According to Wayne Bastians' History of Whiteside there was
no celebration of record for this momentous occassion.
The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Depot in Morrison saw the first train roll into
the station in October 1855.
The contract for building the courthouse was awarded to John A. McKay of Springfield, the work to be done under the the superintendence of a committee composed of E.B. Warner, R.G. Clendenin and W.S. Wilkinson. The contract was let on the 26th of Dec. 1863 and the structure was to be completed by 1 Jan 1865 at a cost of $14,000.
In size the courthouse is 85' x 55', the courtroom a circle of 55' in diameter, with a gallery on the second floor. On the first floor in the south wing is the Sheriff's office, the main entrance hall, and stairs leading to the second floor. In the second story is the grand jury room. On the first floor of the north wing is the law library, also used as a consultation room and on the second floor of this wing is the petit jury room. The ceiling is 23' high. Height to the top of the observatory is 75'.
The building was completed in the spring of 1866 and it was reported that John McKay, had been paid his $14,000, plus he was further paid $668.80 for extra labor and material.
The contract to build the County Jail was let to Charles Neilson at the March 1858 term for $10,100. Supervisors W.S. Barnes, H.C. Fellows and A.C. Jackson were appointed a committee to receive bids, award the contract and to superintend the construction. The structure wsa fully completed under the contract int he winter of 1858-59. In 1876 improvements were made to it at a cost of $4,900. the contract given to P.J. Pauley & Bros under the supervision of Besse, Pennington, Milnes, Spafford adn Wallace. In December of the same year it was completed and ccepted. Eight Iron cells were added, capable of accomodating four prisoners each, in place of the illy ventilated stone cells. The new cells are 10' deep, 6 and 1/4' wide and 7' high, with a steel corridor five feet wide and 26' long in font.
The jailor's residence is a fine two story brick building, with basement, on the south front of, and connected with the jail.
