Christian

Formed February 15, 1839 (81^st county)

Christian County (34,031), Taylorville (10,504)

The stone courthouse was built in 1901 in Romanesque Revival style.  It is located on a square at Main, Washington, Market, and Main Cross streets.  Illinois State Highway 29 is three blocks north of the location.  There was an earlier courthouse built in 1856 in Taylorville, the only county seat.  J. W. Gaddis is the courthouse architect.  The structure features a working clock tower and the grounds have veteran memorials.  The county was created on February 15, 1839 from Sangamon, Montgomery, and Shelby counties as the 81^st county.  The county was named for Christian County, Kentucky.  The county seat is presumably named for a settler. 

Christian County government consists of a sheriff and 16 Commissioners.  Seventeen Circuit Court Judges serve Christian, Clay, Clinton, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Marion, Montgomery, and Shelby counties.  The county is in central Illinois directly south of Springfield, Illinois.  Saint Louis, Missouri is southwest of the county.  The county center is in Taylorville 2.3 miles Northwest of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Macon, Shelby, Montgomery, and Sangamon counties. 

The area of the county is 709 square miles.  It is 24 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 43 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 48.0 persons per square mile making it 47 out of 102 in the state.  Christian County has 66.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 51 crosses the extreme eastern part of the county north to south coming in the north from Shelby County and exiting to the south back into Shelby County.  The county is shaped like a jack-in-the-box.  Taylorville is in the southern half of the county.  Taylorville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 30.9% of the county population.  This county is in the Taylorville Micropolitan Statistical Area.