The City of Jacksonville has added another historical landmark to its recently rejuvenated downtown.
At Tuesday afternoon’s ceremony, a new marker plaque commemorating Morgan County’s second courthouse was unveiled in memory of former Jacksonville Mayor Ron Tendick.
In attendance was current Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard, who shared his thoughts on the project.
“This kind of puts the icing on the cake for Mayor Tendick because he started the downtown project with the help of Jacksonville Main Street. By doing something that he wanted done in our new refurbished downtown, I think he would be smiling down very proudly today,” says Ezard.
Ezard explains that Mayor Tendick played a major role in getting this project off the ground.
“Mayor Tendick was the catalyst on this project. We started working on this a few years ago, and then he passed, and one of the charges was for me to kind of steer the ship. I took that and needed to get this done for Mayor Ron because he was such a good Mayor for our city and such a great historian for out area. So with the help of the Morgan County Commissioners and of course the Morgan County Historical Society, they knew the significance of this for Mayor Tendick and his family,” Ezard says.
Members of both the Morgan County Historical Society and the Illinois State Historical Society were on hand for the unveiling.
The plaque itself, located on the southwest corner of the square, includes details regarding the historical courthouse, which stood between 1830 and 1868 and was associated with politician Stephen A. Douglas and President Abraham Lincoln.