Courthouses, county offices closed Monday

The Madison and St. Clair County courthouses as well as county offices will be closed Monday for Columbus Day.

They will re-open Tuesday at the start of normal business hours.

Columbus Day honors Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who sailed for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain in 1492.

Although searching for the East Indies, Columbus landed in the Caribbean instead.

Often credited as the "discoverer" of the Americas, Columbus was beaten to it first by the migrations of Native American groups from
Asia and by Leif Eriksson a few centuries earlier.