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The second in the 1967-68 Ball State University Faculty Lecture Series
INDIANA COUNTY COURTHOUSES of the NINETEENTH CENTURY
DAVID R. HERMANSEN Associate Professor of Architecture
Muncie, Indiana February, 1968
INDIANA COUNTY COURTHOUSES of the NINETEENTH CENTURY
DAVID R. HERMANSEN Associate Professor of Architecture
INDIANA COUNTY COURTHOUSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
The title of this presentation might be more accurately called "Hoosier Hysteria in the Nineteenth Century." Of the ninety-two counties in Indiana, all built at least two, and several as many as five, courthouses in a span of less than ninety years.
Thus, keen competition developed between towns in the hope that each would be selected as the county seat, since it was felt that being selected would insure rapid growth and prosperity. (This was, however, not always the case.)
The courthouse quickly became the symbol of the county: politi- cally, socially, and architecturally. Distances and directions in the county were measured or given with the courthouse as the bench mark or reference point. Rivalry between counties was often equally spirited.
This competition between cities can be readily traced to the rivalry between cities in the late Gothic and Renaissance periods. Numerous comparisons can be made between :
14th and 15th centuries VS. 19th century
Secularism (Humanism)
New towns
Increased trade and new trade routes (materialism)
Greater security
Increased wealth
Architectural comparisons between the periods are equally meaningful:
14th and 15th centuries VS. 19th century Courthouses
City Halls
Both became tangible architectural symbols of the skills and aspirations of the historic periods for which they were designed.
Sometimes they defined a space:
Siena (Plate 1)
Bluffton (Plate 2)
Palazzo Publico
1297-1310
Wells County Courthouse 1888-1890
Sometimes they were defined by a space:
Muncie (Plate 42)
La Porte
Delaware County Courthouse
La Porte County Court-
1885-1887
house
1892
Were an important silhouette:
Siena (Plate 3)
Decatur (Plate 4)
Palazzo Publico
Adams County Court-
1297-1310
house
1872
Or offered an excellent view of the city: Venice Muncie
In the nineteenth century, architecture became a Battle of Styles: Classical, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Eclecticism (Renaissance, Second Empire, Victorian elements).
In the Midwest, the use of other systems was necessary.
Wayne County was organized in 1810 and Salisbury, which is no longer marked on maps of Indiana, was selected as the county seat. It was the first town laid out in the county, which was at the time completely forested. Salisbury was sited south of U.S. 40 about midway between Centerville and Richmond,1 and the First Courthouse in Wayne County was built in 1811 (Plate 5) at Salisbury. The first trial was held within the partially raised building on October 28, 1811.
The two-story building, 31 feet long and 25 feet wide, was heated by a large fireplace at the first floor. The building was con- structed of squared logs, hand-hewn. Spaces, if any, between timbers were chinked with a clay mortar. Corner joints were half dove tailed and windows were shuttered. The same system of construction had been used during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by English colonists to build blockhouses and jails. It proved to be an excellent system but one that required considerable skill and numerous tools.
1 Cf. P. Hedges, Centerville High School History Club (sheet).
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This may well account for the fact that the First Wayne County Courthouse is still standing today. William Commons, who came to the county in 1810, was the builder.
Later a second courthouse of brick construction was built at Salisbury; however, an accurate description and exact date have not yet been uncovered. In 1816 the Indiana legislature passed an act stating that after August 1, 1817, all official business was to be transacted in Centerville. After bitter strife between the citizens of the two communities, the seat of county government was transferred to Centerville.
The town of Salisbury found little use for two vacant court. houses, and the hand-hewn log structure was auctioned off to the highest bidder. The owner dismantled the structure and moved the elements to Richmond where it was reassembled to function as a residence. Apparently no changes were made in the rebuilding of the original fabric, although later modifications completely concealed the original structure, but the significance of the courthouse residence was not forgotten.
"In 1952, a contractor dismantled the courthouse-residence in Richmond. Interested citizens came forward to save the original log building and it was again purchased at auction. Since the town of Salisbury had long since disappeared, the owners decided to reconstruct it at Centerville, the county's second seat of justice. The venerable structure now stands on school property in Centerville south of the National Road."2
To my knowledge it is the oldest extant courthouse in Indiana and certainly one of the oldest, if not the oldest, in the Northwest Territory. The number of counties in Indiana that built log or hand-hewn courthouses are too numerous to mention, and all have long since disappeared. From the verbal descriptions and drawings that remain, the Wayne County example was one of the largest to employ this system of construction and certainly one of the most sturdy. It is more than a symbol of the frontier spirit. It is expressive of an indigenous concept of construction and design with emphasis on organic simplicity.
The Third Wayne County Courthouse, 1818, the first in Centerville, was built by William Commons, the builder of the
2 Cf. Indiana Historical Society Bulletin, August, 1961.
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first courthouse at Salisbury, and although it was a modest structure, it was the model for the Second Delaware County Courthouse.
"On the third day of June, 1872, a petition was drawn up and signed by 4,937 persons and presented to the Board of Commissioners of Wayne County, asking for the removal of the county seat from Centerville to Richmond."3 Only after bitter debate and strife was the seat of justice moved to Richmond on August 15, 1873.
The Fourth Wayne County Courthouse, completed August 4, 1873, was the first to be built in Richmond (Plate 6). An expression of the Italianate Style, it was a simple, well proportioned brick structure with square-headed windows and doors spanned by flat stone arches. Paired brackets defined the continuous eave of a low-pitched, hipped roof which was terminated by an open cupola. The Italianate Style was widely exploited in America from ca. 1850 through the 1870's for both residential and public buildings. Indiana has a large number of well-preserved residences and several existing courthouses built in the Italianate Style. The Jennings County Courthouse at Vernon, 1859 (Plate 7), and the Morgan County Courthouse at Martinsville, 1857, both by Isaac Hodgson,4 are quite similar in design. Both are more expressive of the pic- turesque asymmetrical compositions that became the hallmark of the style than the symmetrical, less ostentatious Wayne County example.
Architects' and builders' handbooks played a most important role in the dissemination of a design vocabulary based upon the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance styles of Italy-a vocabulary that was often referred to by Europeans as an American vernacular or indigenous expression of architecture. The architect of the Fourth Wayne County Courthouse, the first in Richmond, was George Hoover; the builder, Thomas W. Roberts. The cost of the con- struction was $22,700.5 The structure was demolished sometime after the completion of the present courthouse.
The present or Fifth Wayne County Courthouse, the second at Richmond, 1889-1892, by James W. Mclaughlin, architect (Plate 8), is an expression of the Richardsonian Romanesque.
8 Illustrated Atlas of Indiana, 1876, p. 295.
‘ Hodgson also designed the Henry County Courthouse at New Castle, 1866; the Bartholomew County Courthouse at Columbus, 1871; and the Marion County Court- house, Indianapolis, 1869-1876, demolished in 1960.
" Illustrated Atlas of Indiana, 1876, p. 295.
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Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) has been rightfully referred to as the father of modern architecture in the United States. Indeed, it would be all but impossible to name a contemporary of his who had an cqual impact on the development of modern architecture. He was the initial link on the chain: Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Frank L. Wright.
Richardson's physique was gargantuan; he had architecture in his bones. He was robust, dynamic, virile, and possessed a titanic imagination. These qualities were ever present in his architecture.6
As an architect, Richardson placed considerable emphasis on a wall bearing structural system (Plate 9). Thus, the walls were laid up of massive rough faced masonry units, usually of a local stone which tended to have a rich polychrome or succulent quality.
His design sources were manifold. He exploited low springing arches and grouped openings that expressed interior spatial functions; this was in sharp contrast to the staccato window fenestration of classically inspired academic solutions used by most of his con- temporaries. The low springing arches were previously found in Syrian examples of the fifth and sixth centuries.
Silhouettes of towers and details were similar to French and Spanish Romanesque solutions of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Richardson was an eclectic, but in a most positive way. He used the history of architecture to formulate a personal and extremely imaginative expression that has been termed a "true American Style."
It was little wonder that his design solutions made a strong impact on the younger generation of nineteenth century architects. An impression of similar significance has been experienced in the twentieth century in the influence of Mies van der Rohe, LeCorbusier, and others.
Numerous comparisons can be vividly seen between the courthouses of Indiana and their Richardsonian precedents.
Many of the details of the present Wayne County Courthouse are similar to, or were inspired by, the Albany City Hall, 1880-1882, and the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, 1884-1887, by H. H. Richardson (Plate 9) :
Cf. Ames Gate Lodge, North Easton, Mass., 1880-1881.
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Massive bearing walls of rough-faced stone terminated vertically by a hipped roof with a single stone-faced dormer and longitudinally by semicircular tourelles. (Compare Plate 8 and Plate 9.)
Windows of a variety of sizes are grouped to form functional horizontal bands along with small punched rectangular openings at the base.
Low springing arches of local rough-faced stone are used in both solutions.
Let us quickly experience other Hoosier courthouses that reflect similar design characteristics.
The Blackford County Courthouse at Hartford City, 1893-1894, is a massive Richardsonian Romanesque expression (Plate 10) sited on an ample square, the façade being the south elevation. The tower is asymmetrically superimposed on an otherwise symmetrical composition.
Again several comparisons can be made between the Blackford County Courthouse and the Allegheny County Courthouse :
The towers are similar in silhouette (compare Plate 10 and Plate 11), and both exploit blind arcading with slit openings and tourelles to define the corners. Both examples have boldly projecting paired towers running the full height of the massive walls (compare Plate 12 and Plate 9). These paired massive semicircular towers became a hallmark of Indiana County Courthouses.
The Blackford County Courthouse has been well maintained, functions quite well today, and continues to be the architectural symbol of the county.
La Belle and French Architects of Marion, Indiana, were the designers of the Blackford County building which was completed in 1894.
Bert L. French (1868-1940) was born in Urbana, Ohio, and served his architectural apprenticeship in the office of Elah, Terrel and Company in Springfield, Ohio, from 1887 to 1889. In 1891 a partnership was established with Arthur La Belle (1855 -? ).
Mr. La Belle was born in Plattsburg, New York, and journeyed to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1884, where he stayed for two years. He arrived in Marion ca. 1888. Arthur La Belle is an enigma similar
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to the majority of architects who practiced in Indiana during the nineteenth century; information on these individuals remains tantalizingly scanty.
The partnership of La Belle and French was very productive. They designed at least two additional courthouses: the White County Courthouse at Monticello, Indiana, (1894) and the Trumbull County Courthouse at Warren, Ohio. The firm also designed a large number of schools, churches, and commercial buildings in Indiana.
The Starke County Courthouse at Knox, 1897 (Plate 13), by the architectural firm of Wing and Mahurin of Fort Wayne is sited on a large square with the façade orientated to the south. Originally the major commercial activity of the town defined three sides of the square (W,S,E,) but this activity has largely shifted a block south of the courthouse square. The courthouse is basically classical in plan and form; however, the exterior is again Richard- sonian Romanesque. It is a well proportioned and finely detailed structure.
The Hancock County Courthouse at Greenfield, 1896, also by Wing and Mahurin, is another variation of the Richardsonian Romanesque design theme (Plate 14), although the hierarchy or system is less lucid. The massing of the corner units, their gable and mansarded roof elements, and the applied dormers are more reminiscent of French Renaissance and Gothic solutions than Richardsonian Romanesque.
Even the bold, projecting semicircular towers flanking the main entrance (north elevation) have a Renaissance character due to the strong horizontal banding and rectangular headed openings. Note the contrast between the Renaissance inspired arch and string course versus the Gothic tower.
Indeed, the overall organization and resulting silhouette of the Hancock County Courthouse (Plate 14) are similar to the Fulton County Courthouse at Rochester, 1895 (Plate 15), by A. W. Rush and Son. The Hancock County example is more monumental due to the elasticized or elongated and chunky vertical axis. However, the Fulton County Courthouse is a clearer, more lucid statement of the Romanesque vocabulary due to the greater emphasis on rusticated planes and simple massing versus applied ornamentation. The incised organic ornament at the main entrance of the Fulton
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County example is quite rich and most finely carved (Plate 16). The lion is curious. Both examples express considerable imagination and are without question the most significant architectural symbols in their counties.
The Decatur County Courthouse at Greensburg, 1854-1860 (Plate 17), by Edwin May is one of the most unique of all the Indiana County Courthouses and certainly one of the most widely known county courthouses in the United States.
The original or first Decatur County Courthouse, completed in 1827, was a modest 40 by 40 feet two-story brick building terminated by a cupola. By 1854 the building proved inadequate; it was condemned and torn down to make way for the present structure.
Edwin May was employed by the Decatur County Commissioners to design the present structure. He was then only twenty nine years old, but he had already designed courthouses in Sullivan and Shelby counties. He later designed at least four additional Hoosier County Courthouses and the present State Capitol Building, although he died almost a decade prior to its completion.
Edwin May (1824-1880), George W. Bunting (1829-1901), and Isaac Hodgson (1826- ? ) were architects of the generation of the 1820's. The triumvirate had offices in Indianapolis, and all made a significant contribution to the architectural heritage of Indiana.
Mr. May, born in Boston in 1824, journeyed ca. 1838 to Madison, Indiana, a city even then with a large number of finely proportioned and well-detailed Georgian, Federal, and Classical Revival public buildings and residences. Madison was to Indiana in the nineteenth century what Columbus is in the twentieth century -an architectural oasis. Although his stay in Madison was relatively short, the architecture of the community made an indelible impression on Mr. May.
In 1842 Edwin May went to Indianapolis where he worked as a carpenter and builder for eight years. Although he had no formal architectural training, he must have had a keen mind and consider. able knowledge of financing, for he operated a loan office that might well have assisted him in remaining financially solvent as an architect and builder. The operation of a loan office is a most unique and imaginative enterprise for an architect, and I know of no precedent.
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1. Siena, Palazzo Publico, 1297-1310, general view
2. Bluffton, Wells County Courthouse, 1888-1890, George W. Bunting & Son, view from northwest
3. Siena, Palazzo Publico, 1297-1310, silhouette
4. Decatur, Adams County Courthouse, 1872, J. C. Johnson, east elevation
5. Centerville ( orig. site, Salisbury), First Wayne County Courthouse, 1811, William Commons, builder, general view from southeast
6. Richmond, Fourth Wayne County Courthouse, 1873, George Hoover, photograph from the Indiana Historical Society Library
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7. Vernon, Jennings County Courthouse, 1859, Isaac Hodgson, view from northwest
8. Richmond, Fifth Wayne County Courthouse, 1889-1892, James McLaughlin, view of west elevation
9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County Courthouse, 1884-1887, H. H. Richardson, view from southwest
10. Hartford City, Blackford County Courthouse, 1893-1894, La Belle & French, view of south elevation
11. Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Courthouse, 1884-1887, H. H. Richardson, view of tower from west
12. Hartford City, Blackford County Courthouse, 1893-1894, La Belle & French, view of east elevation
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13. Knox, Starke County Courthouse, 1897, Wing & Mahurin, east elevation
14. Greenfield, Hancock County Courthouse, 1896, Wing & Mahurin, view from northwest
15. Rochester, Fulton County Courthouse, 1895, A. W. Rush & Son, view from southwest
16. Rochester, Fulton County Courthouse, 1895, A. W. Rush & Son, main entrance
17. Greensburg, Decatur County Courthouse, 1854-1860, Edwin May, view from southwest
18. Greensburg, Decatur County Courthouse, 1854-1860, Edwin May
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19. Noblesville, Hamilton County Courthouse, 1878, Edwin May, view from southwest
20. Rising Sun, Ohio County Courthouse, 1845
21. Madison, Jefferson County Courthouse, ca. 1848, David Dubach, façade: west elevation
22. Vevay, Switzerland County Courthouse, ca. 1850, view: façade
23. Madison, Jefferson County Courthouse, ca. 1848, David Dubach, dome
24. Vevay, Switzerland County Courthouse, ca. 1850, dome
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25. Paoli, Orange County Courthouse, 1847-1850, façade: south elevation
26. South Bend, St. Joseph County Courthouse, 1854, John Mills Van Osdel, view: façade
27. Plymouth, Marshall County Courthouse, 1870, Gurdon P. Randall, view from southwest
28. Boston, State House, 1795-1808, Charles Bulfinch, view: façade
29. Philadelphia, Girard College, 1833-1837, Thomas U. Walter, view of south elevation
30. Bluffton, Wells County Courthouse, 1889-1890, George W. Bunting & Son, interior: courtroom
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31. Liberty, Union County Courthouse, 1890, George W. Bunting & Son, view from northwest
32. Liberty, Union County Courthouse, 1890, George W. Bunting & Son, view of west elevation
33. Franklin, Johnson County Courthouse, 1881-1882, George W. Bunting, south elevation
34. Franklin, Johnson County Courthouse, 1881-1882, George W. Bunting
35. Frankfort, Clinton County Courthouse, 1882, George W. Bunting, west elevation
36. Anderson, Madison County Courthouse, 1882, George W. Bunting
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37. Frankfort, Clinton County Courthouse, 1882, George W. Bunting, detail: west elevation
38. Anderson, Madison County Courthouse, 1882, George W. Bunting
39. La Grange, La Grange County Courthouse, 1878-1879, Thomas J. Tolan & Son, view: west elevation
40. Rockville, Parke County Courthouse, 1879-1880, Thomas J. Tolan & Son, view from northeast
41. Warsaw, Kosciusko County Courthouse, 1882, Thomas J. Tolan & Son, view from southwest
42. Muncie, Delaware County Courthouse, 1885-1887, Brentwood S. Tolan, view from southwest
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43. Warsaw, Kosciusko County Courthouse, 1882, Thomas J. Tolan & Son, view of south elevation 44. Muncie, Delaware County Courthouse, 1885-1887, Brentwood S. Tolan, view of south elevation 45. Warsaw, Kosciusko County Courthouse, 1882, Thomas J. Tolan & Son, south (main entrance) 46. Muncie, Delaware County Courthouse, 1885-1887, Brentwood S. Tolan, south (main entrance) 47. Muncie, Delaware County Courthouse, 1885-1887, Brentwood S. Tolan, west stair
48. Muncie, Delaware County Courthouse, 1885-1887, Brentwood S. Tolan, dome
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Although the present Decatur County Courthouse was started in 1854, it was not completed until 1860. It is an interesting and curious solution, asymmetrical in plan and picturesque and rambling in silhouette, but suggestive of the Gothic idiom. Conversely, the semicircular arches are more indicative of Romanesque expressions, but the Richardsonian idiom was not prevalent until much later (1870 and after). Thus, it is possible that Edwin May was familiar with the then current work of James Renwick and his solution for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington (1847-1855).
In 1903 the exterior brickwork was stuccoed to emulate a more permanent material, stone.
The courthouse has been eulogized on numerous occasions for various reasons. While on a speaking tour in 1908, William Jennings Bryan stated that Decatur County's Courthouse was the finest speci- men of Gothic architecture that he had seen in his travels throughout the world.7
William Allen White, the eminent Kansas journalist known as the Sage of Emporia, used the tree of the Decatur County Courthouse as the subject for one of his editorials (Plate 18). He expressed curiosity as to the "secret of the grove of trees on the high tower between stones whereas on the plains of Kansas one was fortunate to grow a single tree on the ground."8 White's comments were printed in many papers throughout the country and he even visited the site several years later while on a trip to the East.
The local chamber of commerce refers to the tree as the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Some have accused the chamber of com- merce of "planting" the tree which caused a local wit to say, "and it's watered by the springs of the clock." Indeed, the fire department has watered the trees during severe periods of drought. It is uncertain how the tree got to the apex of the 115 foot high tower or when the tree was first seen; possibly a bird or even the wind carried a seed to the tower. Various dates have been given for the sighting of the first tree, ranging from ca. 1865 to 1870.
The present tree is the twelfth in the series of large-tooth aspen which have brought considerable publicity to the Decatur County Courthouse, but the trees seem to have clouded the architectural significance of the building.
7 Greensburg Daily News, Thursday, August 18, 1966, page 1, section 3.
8 Greensburg Daily News, Thursday, August 18, 1966, page 1, section 4.
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The Hamilton County Courthouse at Noblesville, 1878, also by Edwin May (Plate 19), is in sharp contrast to the Decatur County example. It is one of the most lucid expressions of the Classical French Renaissance mode to have been constructed in the Midwest during the nineteenth century and is reminiscent of French examples of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in form, materials, and details. The banded columns are an expression of the "French Order" devised and exploited by Philibert de l'Orme in the sixteenth century.
One of the most interesting series of Indiana courthouses was the classically inspired solutions which began to appear in the south- ern part of the state after ca. 1845. The Classical Revival was to have a longer life in the United States than any other country in the world, with the possible exception of Russia.
The Greek Revival became an American architectural ideal because of our romantic association with ancient Greek arts, politics, and cultural perfection. Indeed, the modern Greeks gained the sympathy of a new nation, the United States, with their struggle for freedom against the Turks in the war of 1821-1827.
The style which became a fashion was used for the design and/or remodeling of all building types except factories, barns, and privies.
Temple front wooden porticoes in standard heights could be purchased from local mills; however, some needed additional sections to reach an already established cornice height, and the results were not always successful.
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