Moultrie County is named for William Moultrie, who was a general during the American Revolutionary War and who built Fort Moultrie.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Piatt County
E – Douglas County and Coles County
S – Shelby County
W – Shelby County and Macon County
Created: February 16, 1843
County Seat:
East Nelson 1844 – 1845
Sullivan 1845 – present
County Courthouse – Sullivan
Location: 10 South Main Street / East Harrison Street
Built: 1904 – 1905
Style: Beaux Arts
Architect: Deal & Ginzel
Contractor: H B Walter of Danville.
Description: The building faces west and is a three story dark red colored brick buff colored sandstone and concrete structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Sullivan. On each side is a portico with arched stone entrance on the first story and with two tall Doric columns rising from the second story to the top of the third story. Above are pediments at the roof line. On the center of the roof is a large green colored octagonal dome with clock and rounded roof. The first story is rough sandstone. Stone trim decorates the corners of the building. In the interior, all four corridors lead from each entrance into a spacious square center lobby and rotunda. The walls of the rotunda and corridors have Tennessee marble wainscoting and the walls of the rotunda are adorned with pastoral and harvest scenes. There are tile floors and two banks of marble stairs on the south end. The County Probate courtroom is on the second story and the two County Circuit Court courtrooms are on the north side of the third story with the large courtroom A on the northeast side having drapery behind the judge’s bench and the small courtroom B on the northwest side also having drapery behind the judge’s bench.. The building houses the County Circuit Court of the 6th Judicial Circuit.
See: The contractor was H B Walter of Danville, also constructed courthouses in Clark County and Piatt County.
See: National Register of Historic Places – Moultrie County Courthouse
See: The 6th Judicial District includes Champaign County, DeWitt County, Douglas County, Macon County and Piatt County.
History: The county was created in 1843 and East Nelson was selected as the county seat. The first court met at the cabin of James Camfield in 1843. The county seat was moved to Sullivan ( Asa’s Point ) in 1845. The first courthouse was built in 1847. The courthouse was destroyed by fire on November 6, 1864. The second courthouse was built in 1865 to 1866. The third and present courthouse was constructed in 1904 to 1906 at a cost of $76,952.
County Courthouse – Sullivan
County Circuit Court courtroom A
County Circuit Court courtroom B
Photos taken 2008 and 2025
Images 22*