Christian County’s first courthouse, originally serving Dane County, was built in 1840 for $2,350 in the center of Taylorville’s Public Square. Court was held on the lower level while county officers shared the upstairs floor, and because the Circuit Court came to town only twice each year, the courtroom was also used by County Commissioners and for public functions. Until 1853, Christian County was part of the Eighth Judicial Circuit, whose judge traveled to all county seats twice yearly to hear cases along a route almost 450 miles long that took nearly three months to complete by horse and buggy. Abraham Lincoln was among the attorneys who traveled the Eighth Circuit and came to Taylorville, where he tried cases in this courthouse before Judge David Davis, later appointed by Lincoln to the United States Supreme Court. During one trial, Lincoln, interrupted by loud noise from hogs underneath the courthouse, jokingly asked Judge Davis to issue a “Writ of Quietus” requiring the sheriff to abate the nuisance. The courthouse was replaced in 1856, sold for $267, and moved several times before being placed on museum grounds because of its historical significance and connection to Lincoln.