Original DuPage County Courthouse

The former DuPage County Courthouse and its clock tower, built in 1896, stand just south of the trail. The first courthouse on this site was quickly built in 1868 after a divisive county-wide referendum supported moving the county seat from Naperville to Wheaton. Naperville refused to acknowledge the vote and would not release the county records. In 1868, the county sheriff and 30 men raided Naperville and retrieved the records, except for 7 boxes of deeds that fell off a wagon. Naperville supporters took these to Chicago for safekeeping, but they were burned in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Tax collection, marriage licenses, and other county recordings remained chaotic until the Illinois Supreme Court sided with Wheaton in 1872.

Wheaton, Illinois · United States