Photos of Indiana's Historic Courthouses, along with some others
The rate that many early Indiana counties blew through county seats and courthouses is astounding. Whether due to recurring illness, natural disasters, Machiavellian politics, or a combination of all of it, it’s not uncommon to find counties that built three or four different courthouses before a permanent county seat was established. On the other hand, […]
Read More Delaware County- Muncie (1992-2021)I took an online rhetoric class at a community college last year that involved writing a persuasive paper. I focused on the value that historic courthouses provide their communities and how they tend to serve as commercial anchors to their downtowns. Any courthouse does that, but old ones demonstrated that courthouses with history contributed far […]
Read More Seneca County, Ohio- Tiffin (2017-)I’ve been doing my courthousery project for a long time. So long, in fact, that -as my brother puts it- “They’re starting to build NEW courthouses!” Not quite, but…yeah.
Read More Porter County- Portage (1980-)In times of political polarization and calculated discord like these, it’s nice to remember a simpler era when parties could occasionally join forces for the common good. In what was called a “rare display of public unity1,” Democratic and Republican commissioners of St. Joseph County came together to approve plans for a new satellite courthouse […]
Read More St. Joseph County- Mishawaka (1980-)A version of this post appeared in September, 2019. Over the past year, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was in the national news more than any other Indiana mayor in the past fifty years aside from maybe Dick Lugar. That means South Bend, the city that bestowed Pete’s title, has been too. On national TV, South Bend […]
Read More St. Joseph County- South Bend (1967-69, 2015-)“If the 94-year-old brick pile and pigeon-roost possessed some intrinsic architectural value, its preservation might be in order1.”
Read More Lake County- Crown Point (1974-)As far as courthouses go, the 1970s represented a decade of debauchery for officials in Lake County: They were just plain nutty about them! First came a new superior courthouse for Hammond in 1972 that replaced an elderly 1903 structure. 1974 saw the venerable courthouse in Crown Point overtaken by a sprawling administrative complex northwest […]
Read More Lake County- East Chicago (1979-)Most counties in Indiana are quite content with one courthouse. Not Lake County! The county closest to Chicago -Indiana’s second largest by size and population density- has a whopping four. Most county courts and offices are held within a sprawling complex northeast of Crown Point that replaced that town’s historic 1878 courthouse, which we’ve talked […]
Read More Lake County- Hammond (1972-)I’ve noticed an alarming trend through my posts here: Nearly every time a county features both a modern and a historic courthouse, I’ve posted about the modern one first. I hate it, but I see no reason to change that now, so today we’ll talk about the 1969 Evansville Civic Center Complex, which replaced the […]
Read More Vanderburgh County- Evansville (1969-)I hate to bear bad news, but this just in, America- we’re over-retailed! Indiana’s first enclosed shopping mall, in Anderson, closed two years ago; Marion’s moribund Five Points Mall finally shut down aside from its three stores with outside entrances, the Muncie Mall lost three of its four anchors and Dick’s is leaving Washington Scare […]
Read More Floyd County- New Albany (1961-)