Jacksonville to add Underground Railroad mural near courthouse

Downtown Jacksonville is getting a new landmark on the courthouse block: an Underground Railroad mural that will hang on West Street across from the Morgan County Courthouse, where Main Street leaders hope it will send more people from the square into nearby businesses and events.

Jacksonville Main Street director Judy Tighe said artist Carl Scott Lindley has been painting the work off site on two separate pieces of metal, and the mural was already more than halfway complete. The finished piece is expected to be mounted on the wall facing the courthouse, making it one of the most visible public-art additions in the center of downtown.

The project carries both a cultural and an economic-development purpose. It was funded with a $15,000 state tourism grant announced April 10 as part of Illinois America 250 public arts projects, and state leaders have framed those grants as a way to celebrate local history while energizing cultural districts. In Jacksonville, that means turning a downtown mural into a history lesson and a draw for pedestrians at the same time.

The subject matter reaches directly into Jacksonville’s Underground Railroad legacy. Tighe said the mural is intended to honor local conductors in that movement, and local tourism materials say the city recognizes nine Underground Railroad locations, including Woodlawn Farm. The Jacksonville African American History Museum is housed in the historic Asa Talcott House, one of those nine sites, giving the mural a clear connection to places residents and visitors already can visit around town.

The mural also anchors itself to one of Morgan County’s most prominent civic buildings. The Morgan County Courthouse at 300 West State Street is the third courthouse on the site and was built in 1868 and 1869, which makes the West Street location a fitting backdrop for a work focused on memory, movement and civic identity.

One local report said the mural will depict Jacksonville Underground Railroad sites and the story of Ben Henderson, a formerly enslaved man who bought his freedom in 1837 and later became a conductor on the Underground Railroad. That kind of imagery gives the square a more immediate visual link to the people and places that shaped Jacksonville’s history, while also adding what one report described as the city’s 13th downtown mural.

Tighe said she hoped the mural would be ready by Juneteenth, though Lindley has said it would be on the wall no later than the end of July if the schedule slips. For downtown Jacksonville, the mural is set to become both a new photo stop and another reason to linger on the square.