Carthage, IL

Carthage is Hancock County's seat, a city whose name carries two very different histories. The Carthage Jail, built in 1839, is where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed in 1844, and it remains a site on the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. A newer local thread runs through The Legacy Theater, whose building began as a 1953 auditorium for Carthage College and later served Robert Morris College before becoming a civic theater. U.S. 136 runs through town, and agriculture shapes the surrounding county. The local shorthand is courthouse, jail, theater, and a Hancock County city where national history meets a working county seat.