It's located on Rt. 66, next to the capital & across from the library with fountains in front of…read morethe statue of Martin Luther King Jr. The current Supreme Court Building was built in 1908 for $450,500. It houses the Ceremonial Courtroom, Law Library & court staff.

One needn't know a thing about law or lawyering to appreciate the beauty and simple grandeur of the…read moreIllinois Supreme Court building in Springfield. My plans yesterday at the Capitol were attenuated because House Speaker Madigan's office had appropriated every single seat in the House Gallery for Governor Quinn's Budget Address. Translation: the public was essentially prevented from attending the Governor's speech. I solved that by walking across the street to the Illinois Supreme Court, which had ended its session yesterday, until May or so. I knew the building would be open but the entrance would be full of security - no doubt retired FBI and other law enforcement officials. I entered, and was correct. "Good morning, Sir. State your business please. Are you a lawyer?" "Recovering lawyer." All cops break up laughing. One asked: "How may we help you and exactly what is a recovering lawyer?" I said I had time to kill, no longer practice law, am a legal studies professor now, and simply wanted to spend time in the building, check out the library collection, view the artwork, etc. One of these fine gentleman said he had time and if I would like he would be happy to give me his personal tour. You bet. As I suspected, my tour guide-security officer was a former FBI agent or Illinois State Police; I'm not sure. He was a great guy, and what made his tour so interesting for me is that while he showed me the building and its treasures, he also weaved in a narration of his experience growing up in Springfield the son of a local trial lawyer who had argued a handful of cases in the Supreme Court; he told me how it felt for him to see his Dad argue - and win. Here are my pix of the Library, the main Court, the Ceremonial Court Room, and various other details: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/V-sjEb8q9g1EfNQ0VTaY3Q

The World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial is the most impressive of the War Memorials in Oak…read moreRidge Cemetery. Granite slabs flank a large white globe which detail battles in the European and Pacific Theaters. Almost 1 million Illinois residents served in the war. 22,000 died. Walk to see the chronology of the war. Bricks pave the walkway honoring those who fought and those who died in the war.

Everyone wants to go to Oak Ridge Cemetery to see Lincoln's Tomb, but there's more of course. It…read morealso has a few war memorials. World War II has a pretty nice one. Commemorates those from Illinois who died. There's some pretty cool structure. As for the war memorials, this one is the most impressive. It has this big white globe you notice immediately, quite the structure. There's also the names of the lost soldiers on a wall. Maybe it doesn't take much time to look at. This is nice just to reflect and admire it. For sure this gets overlooked but check it out while you're in this cemetery. It's pretty close to the other war memorials. Take a few minutes and walk around to see all of these.

Hard to notice unless looking for it and even then it's also hard. It's a great piece of public art…read moreof an important figure in civil rights. Martin Luther King, Jr. has a statue in Springfield. For sure it's not that impressive looking, but simple can be good. There's also a plaque with some historic information. A kind of hard to find statue at first. It's at the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Second Street. This is a pretty humble statue of him with his suit jacket slung over his shoulder, looking like he's in thought. Just many of the statues around here. Look on the other side of the street and there's a statue of Lincoln, and others. Good important site only takes a few minutes to look at. It's only one of many statues, so spend more time looking around at others. The area around here is better to walk around than drive because of traffic.

Local flavor and public art - i love it!…read more Wonderful statue of MLK, nice to see him less stoic! The status is opposite corner from the "young" lincoln in from of the "new" state capital. Fun to see the 2 looking at each other!