Carlinville

Carlinville is a town in the Central Illinois region of Illinois with a population of 5,710 as of the 2020 US Census. It is home to Blackburn College and hosts the Macoupin County Fair on the fair grounds north of town every year. Farm land surrounds the town as well as a few coal mines still in production, though there has been a stark decline in mining operations in the 21st century.

Understand
Carlinville is located in the center of Macoupin County and is the county seat. Founded in 1865, Carlinville was named after Thomas Carlin, 7th Governor of Illinois and major contributor to the creation of Macoupin County.

Carlinville is moderately famous for its collection of Sears Catalog homes. An entire neighborhood of Sears Homes was built in town by the Standard Oil Company of Indiana to house local coal mine employees. Today, 149 of the original 156 homes still exist, and is considered the largest single repository of Sears Catalog Homes in the United States.

Carlinville is also known for the Macoupin County Courthouse. Built in 1870 by and designed by Elijah E. Meyers, the courthouse was considered the largest outside of New York at the time of its construction. The courthouse is known locally as "The Million Dollar Courthouse" due to the overspending to build it. There were accusations by county residents regarding misappropriations of funds during the construction of the courthouse. Judge Loomis was accused of using stone from the courthouse to build a hotel, the Loomis House, on the square. Judge Loomis stated he purchased the stone but never produced a bill of sales. Another commissioner, County Clerk George Holliday, was seen leaving town by train in the middle of the night carrying a carpet bag. Public opinion was that the bag was filled with some of the money raised for construction of the courthouse. Holliday was never seen again and it is still a mystery as to where he went.

By rail
Carlinville is rather well served by rail, with multiple daily Amtrak trains calling here. There are four daily departures on the Lincoln Servie between Chicago and St. Louis. Additionally, the once-daily Texas Eagle between Chicago and San Antonio, with through-cars to and from Los Angeles three times per week, calls here.



By car
Carlinville sits where Illinois Route 4 and Illinois Route 108 intersect. Route 4 links Carlinville to Springfield in the North and the St. Louis Metro East area to the south. Route 108 connects Carlinville to Carrollton to the west and I-55 to the east. I-55 is 12 miles east of town on Route 108s eastern terminus, linking Carlinville to A major Interstate artery connecting Chicago all the way to New Orleans.

By plane
Carlinville is not serviced directly by any airport. The closest airport is the  in Springfield, which hosts multiple daily flights from Chicago and Fort Worth Texas, but still requires transportation from Springfield down to Carlinville.

The  is the closest, most frequently used airport in the area and is an hour drive south west of Carlinville. The airport hosts a number of international and national flights throughout the year.

Get around

 * Macoupin County Transit services the nearby town of Macoupin counts from inter-town and town-to-town travelling.
 * Driving is the easiest method of travel in town and in the surrounding areas.

Go next

 * Litchfield
 * Springfield
 * St. Louis
 * Alton