Warren County Courthouse (Indiana)

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Warren County Courthouse
Warren County, Indiana Courthouse.png
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Location125 North Monroe Street, Williamsport, Indiana
Coordinates 40°17′17″N87°17′39″W / 40.28806°N 87.29417°W / 40.28806; -87.29417 Coordinates: 40°17′17″N87°17′39″W / 40.28806°N 87.29417°W / 40.28806; -87.29417
Arealess than one acre
Built1908
Architect J. W. Royer
NRHP reference # 08000195 [1]
Added to NRHPMarch 19, 2008 [1]

The Warren County Courthouse is a stone building constructed in 1908 in Williamsport, Indiana. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 19, 2008.

Williamsport, Indiana Town in Indiana, United States

Williamsport is a town in Washington Township, Warren County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 1,898 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Warren County and is the largest of the four incorporated towns in the county. Williamsport Falls is located in downtown Williamsport.

Contents

History

At the first Warren County seat of Warrenton, a log house owned (and occupied) by Enoch Farmer was used for general court and county purposes. When the county seat was moved to Williamsport, a log house belonging to the town's proprietor, William Harrison, served as the courthouse starting in July 1829. In 1832, plans were made for a new building, and in July of that year the construction bid was won by E. W. Jones and Seth Flowers. The new building was to be made of brick, 40 feet (12 m) square and 23 feet (7.0 m) high, and was to be completed by August 1833; but various problems delayed this until mid-1834. The cost of construction was about $2000. [n 1] In 1835 the building was strengthened and improved.

Warren County, Indiana County in the United States

Warren County lies in western Indiana between the Illinois state line and the Wabash River in the United States. According to the 2010 census, the population was 8,508. The county seat is Williamsport.

Warrenton, Indiana Ghost town in Indiana, United States

Warrenton is an extinct town in Warren Township, Warren County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It was the county's original county seat.

In 1870 a specially-appointed committee determined that the old building was unsafe, and plans were begun to replace it; but opposition to the plan delayed progress until early 1871. The plans called for a new brick building to be constructed in what is now known as "Old Town", the original portion of Williamsport that was on the shores of the Wabash River. The firm of Hays and Evans of Bloomington, Illinois was awarded the job with a bid of $48,400. [n 2] The county did not have sufficient funds for the project, so $10,000 worth of county bonds were issued. The new courthouse was accepted in December 1872. [3]

Bloomington, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area.

Warren County Courthouse in 1877 Courthouse in Warren County, Indiana from 1877 atlas.png
Warren County Courthouse in 1877

In 1886 it was torn down and rebuilt as the third courthouse on the current site, in the newer portion of town that had developed because of the railroad. This courthouse had a 155-foot tower. Early on the morning of Sunday, January 20, 1907, the building caught fire and was largely destroyed, though most of the records were saved. [4]

The current courthouse was designed by J. W. Royer of Urbana, Illinois and was constructed by Frank Jahn of Champaign, Illinois and L. N. Cope of Decatur, Illinois at a cost of $115,000. [n 3] Following the fire of January 1907, construction of the new building was under way by October, during the term of Governor Frank Hanly. It was built primarily of stone, with stairs made of iron and marble. [5] The county purchased two large brass cannons from the United States Government and placed them outside the building, where they still remain. [4] [6]

Joseph Royer (architect)

Joseph William Royer (1873–1954) was a prolific architect from Urbana, Illinois who designed many prominent buildings in Urbana, Champaign, and beyond. His work included civic, educational, commercial, and residential buildings, many of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and feature a wide variety of architectural styles.

Urbana, Illinois City in Illinois, United States

Urbana is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population is estimated at 41,989 as of July 1, 2017. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is included in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area.

Illinois State of the United States of America

Illinois is a state in the Midwestern and Great Lakes region of the United States. It has the fifth largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth largest population, and the 25th largest land area of all U.S. states. Illinois is often noted as a microcosm of the entire United States. With Chicago in northeastern Illinois, small industrial cities and immense agricultural productivity in the north and center of the state, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base, and is a major transportation hub. Chicagoland, Chicago's metropolitan area, encompasses over 65% of the state's population. The Port of Chicago connects the state to international ports via two main routes: from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois Waterway to the Illinois River. The Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Wabash River form parts of the boundaries of Illinois. For decades, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and, through the 1980s, in politics.

Notes

  1. ↑ A $2,000 capital expense in 1835 would be roughly equivalent to $1,030,000 in 2009. [2]
  2. ↑ A $48,000 capital expense in 1872 would be roughly equivalent to $11,300,000 in 2009. [2]
  3. ↑ A $115,000 capital expense in 1908 would be roughly equivalent to $15,500,000 in 2009. [2]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Announcements and actions on properties for the National Register of Historic Places, March 28, 2008". New listings. National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Williamson, Samuel H. (April 2010). Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to present. MeasuringWorth. Calculations made using Nominal GDP Per Capita, a measure of capital intensivity, using "the 'average' per-person output of the economy in the prices of the current year." This is a measure of the amount of capital and volume of labor required to reproduce the work over varying production methods, but assuming that money represents a proportion of the economy.
  3. ↑ Goodspeed, Weston A. (1883). "County Organization". Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana. Chicago: F. A. Battey and Company. pp. 64–65.
  4. 1 2 Sharp, Allen (1966). "Political History". A History of Warren County, Indiana. Williamsport, Indiana: Warren County Historical Society. pp. 146–7.
  5. ↑ Counts, Will; Jon Dilts (1991). The 92 Magnificent Indiana Courthouses. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 178–9. ISBN   978-0-253-33638-5.
  6. ↑ "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved 2016-07-01.Note: This includes Eliza Steelwater (September 2007). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Warren County Courthouse" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-07-01. and Accompanying photographs
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