the setting for Jamie Gilson's book Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs. Singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens wrote a song about Pittsfield on his album The Avalanche. Landmarks Pittsfield is home to the most locations in the world that have documented connections to Abraham Lincoln. There are nine homes still in existence in Pittsfield that are connected to Lincoln, including the Shastid House, where Lincoln often stayed while practicing cases in the county. His personally signed documents have been stolen from the courthouse. Many people in the county have seen them and know they exist. The public is alerted to watch for them, should they surface at sales, in museums, or private collections. The dockets listing Lincoln's cases still remain, stored in ancient records in the courthouse basement. There are many historic landmarks within the city limits, the most notable of which is the Pike County Courthouse. The courthouse was designed by Architect Henry Elliott of Chicago and Jacksonville. Contractors were Yeager and Schultz of Danville, Illinois. The courthouse was to be completed within 400 days after the signing of the contract at a cost of $45,000. Groundbreaking for the courthouse was on May 11, 1894. The cornerstone was laid on July 12, 1894, and the dedication of the new courthouse was on November 16, 1895. Robert Franklin, a master mason from Nebo, Illinois designed and supervised the keystone architecture of the courthouse. It was the third courthouse in Pittsfield and the fifth in Pike County. The building is of octagon shape 96 x 96 feet of Cleveland sandstone veneering, backed by heavy walls of brick; the dimensions over all, is over the steps and porches, is 119 feet by 119 feet. Four entrances, all exactly alike, face the four cardinal points – north, south, east, and west. The entrances are large, double doors of oak and glass and are overhung with beautiful stone porches. The park in which the building stands is 340 feet square. There are four sidewalks leading up to the doors of the courthouse and a sidewalk circles the building. From the center of the building rise the graceful outlines of the tower and dome to an imposing height of 136 feet. The corridors, which cross under the dome are ten feet in width, with marbled tiled floors, wainscoting and frescoed ceilings. Standing on the lower floor in the center of the corridor under the dome and looking