john wood mansion

Quincy, Illinois, is a river town on the Mississippi River, not far from Mark Twain's Hannibal, Missouri. Many riverboat captains called it home and built their mansions on State Street. So did John Wood, who became the 12th governor of Illinois in 1960 upon the death of Governor William Bissell. Wood's Mansion, a 14-room, two-story Greek Revival home, was built between 1835 and 1838 at 12th and State Streets. Wood founded Adams County in 1825 and the city of Quincy in 1835. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and in 2007 was named by the Association of Independent Architects as one of Illinois' 150 most important architectural structures. It features four large Doric columns, which Wood himself turned at a lathe he built for that purpose, four large chimneys and many ornate details inside and out. A great many original wood family and period furnishings are displayed throughout the mansion. After it fell into disrepair, the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County purchased the property and spent $500,000 to restore it. Today, the Society owns and operates the mansion. It is open for public tours from April through October. Educational tours also are offered to all third and fourth grade students in the community. And special candlelight tours are open to the public in December. It is the kind of antebellum building you would expect to find in Natchez, Mississippi, or Charleston, South Carolina, or along the Plantation or River Road in Louisiana.