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Williamson County Historical Museum

105 South Van Buren St, Marion, IL 62959

History Museums

Located in a historic old jailhouse in Marion, the museum features artifacts, antiques, and records of a bygone era. 17 rooms contain exhibits, including an old-fashioned school room.

This large brick building, built in 1913, located within a block of the Williamson County Court House, served two purposes. It provided a jail for prisoners with four cell blocks for the men and smaller cells for the women and it served as the home for the Sheriff and his family. Part of the agreement in older times was for the Sheriff’s wife to cook for the inmates. Steel doors separated prisoners from the family as well as 13 inch poured concrete walls. Meals could be passed through barred windows from the kitchen into the cellblock.

In 1972 the Williamson County Historical Society accepted the building for a museum after the new jail was completed. Since then, it has been the repository of many irreplaceable heirlooms donated from local families as well as some fascinating antiques that date back to the formation of the county itself in 1839.

Some of the design of the building itself was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and the building itself has been placed on the National Historic Registry, one of only four buildings in Marion to claim that honor. The museum is now open from March to Thanksgiving for tours and Geneological research. 

Images

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