Ohio History Journal

DORAMAE O'KELLEY

Late Nineteenth Century Courthouse

Architecture in Northwestern Ohio

As one drives through northwestern Ohio, the most impressive object to

be seen on the skyline of many communities might be the massive, towered,

form of the county courthouse. Often the city's largest and most

distinguished example of architecture, these courthouses were all built in

the last thirty years of the nineteenth century. The importance these

structures held for the people of the county when they were built-and their

descendants who follow-is evidenced by the fact that they were often built

on the site of an earlier structure used for the same purpose, which formed a

nucleus around which the business and residential community was

organized. In most cases the existing courthouses are the third to be built

within the county, the first and second having been lost to fire or the need

for expansion due to a rapid rise in population.1

The first courthouses in northwestern Ohio counties were built in the

1830s and 40s and consisted of log, frame, or brick construction. Their style

was derived from domestic architecture, with the size and decoration

determined by the funds available to the county. A few of the second

courthouses were described as plain and substantial, though they were

larger and more imposing than the earlier structures and some reflected the

popularity of the Greek Revival style. Through his architecture and his

influence on those with less knowledge and experience of Europe than his

own, Thomas Jefferson introduced the Greek Revival style of architecture

into America in the late eighteenth century. This style, in emulation of the

nation's capitol, was regarded as particularly appropriate for official

architecture. The Franklin County courthouse at Columbus and the Ohio

State Capitol building were early examples of this style, which was to

become common in Ohio before the Civil War.²

Doramae O'Kelley is a lecturer in art history at Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan

1. The Defiance Democrat, October 2, 1869, reported a 200 percent rise in the population

of that city between 1860 and 1869.

2. The Franklin County courthouse was completed in 1840. Its size and location might

have made it an attractive model to emulate. Construction did not begin on the State Capitol

until 1848; however, the competition for a design was held in 1838. This design might have

312                                                        OHIO HISTORY

The years following the Civil War marked the beginning of an active

period in American building. Industry had provided the architect with new

materials and new methods. Transportation and communications had

made giant strides. But only a few architects realized the possibilities these

advances offered, and most continued to prepetuate" ... the collective

dream of a generation at introducing into architecture the fourth

dimension, time itself, and their Grecian, Gothic, Italian, and Egyptian and

other fantasies are best remembered as so many invitations to explore the

poetry of time."³ Whether the process of choosing a model after which to

build a courthouse in the 1870s or 80s seemed poetic or not to the

northwestern Ohio County Commissioners, it was a considerably more

complicated task than it had been for their counterparts in the prewar

building period. The Commissioners' journals record trips made by the

group to neighboring counties in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and many

meetings to discuss what they had seen before the decision was made.⁴ The

counties were no longer looking to Columbus or Washington to find the

one most appropriate style for official architecture; it was a choice to be

made from among a variety of possibilities close at hand. Newspapers of

the period reveal a sense of competition among the counties to build the

finest courthouse.

The third courthouses represent a tremendous financial undertaking for

northwestern Ohio counties. Allen County is a typical example; the

courthouse built in 1842 cost the county $13,325.00,5 while the one finished

in 1884 cost sixteen times that, or a total of $213,167.98.⁶ It is no wonder

that the citizens saw these buildings "as a monument to their combined

liberality."7  Beginning in  1868 a proposal of such large monetary

expenditure had to have the approval of the voters.⁸ Whether the voters

approved or rejected such a proposal on the merits of the design or the

expenditure of money, the fact that they had a voice in the decision was

reflected in the enthusiasm with which the counties celebrated the building

of a courthouse.⁹

been known by some prior to the beginning of construction. At least half of the northwestern

Ohio counties building third courthouses between 1870 and 1895 replaced earlier Greek

Revival structures.

3. Wayne Andrews, Architecture, Ambition and Americans (New York, 1964), 104.

4. The Defiance County Commissioners Journal, III, 237, et seq., records frequent

meetings held between December 16, 1870, and January 5, 1871, to discuss various plans for

the new courthouse. The opinions of those involved are not recorded.

5. Winona Stewart, "Allen County Courthouses," Allen County Reporter, XXII, March,

1966.

6. Ibid., June, 1966.

7. The Lima Democratic Times, September 13, 1884.

8. Ohio, Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the State of Ohio (1868), 1, 87.

9. The Allen County  Democrat, October 9, 1879, published a line engraving of the

proposed courthouse, before it was to be brought to the voters October 14. The proposal was

Courthouse Architecture                                           313

The Ohio State Legislature in 1869, just prior to the period of active

courthouse-building in northwestern Ohio, passed an act allowing

counties to issue bonds, not to exceed $1,000.00 each in value, to secure

funds for construction of large buildings. This bill, referred to as the

"seven-year act," instructed the Commissioners to levy taxes each year to

pay interest and one-seventh of the principal on these bonds.10 This act

repealed an earlier law that allowed for no more than $15,000.00 to be

raised by the issuing of bonds, in order to rebuild a public building.11 The

new law allowed for adequate money to be raised to begin construction

immediately.

In some counties the laying of the cornerstone was done with great

ceremony. Newspapers record stirring speeches, bands playing to

accompany marching citizens, and a long list of items placed in the

cornerstone itself. There were no major problems encountered by most

counties during the four or five-year building process. A black flag atop the

courthouse tower announced a worker's strike at one site, but the matter

was quickly settled when the supervising architect was given a leave of

absence. A disagreement over the kind of stone to be used in construction

was settled when the Commissioners of one county visited several building

sites to observe the use of the stones in construction. In each county the

final moment of completion for the new "Temple of Justice" was proudly

saluted as a momentous victory. A line engraving of the new building

accompanied by a detailed description of both interior and exterior

invariably appeared in the leading newspapers of each county.

The first official recognition of architecture as a profession, separate

from that of the builder or contractor, came to the Ohio practitioner in the

seven-year act. The word "architect" was used to designate a person

delegated to draw plans for, and supervise the construction of, a public

building.12 In each case, the person contracted to design a courthouse in

northwestern Ohio was referred to by this title. These architects were not

among those who had been trained in European schools, and unless they

were European by birth had done no traveling outside the United States.

Their professional education was that of an engineer and/or appren-

ticeship to a practicing architect. Most of the architects chosen to build

northwestern Ohio courthouses had offices in towns little larger than those

they were working in. These men were generalists, with homes, factories,

defeated. The voters do not always seem to have been given this specific an idea as to what the

future courthouse would look like prior to selection. The architect, price, and a model were

determined before the issue came to the voters, but not published.

10. Ohio, General and Local Laws and Joint Resolutions, 58th General Assembly, LXVI,

sec. 4. 53.

11. Ohio, Supplement to the Revised Statutes, 87.

12. Ohio, General and Local Laws, sec. 7, 54.

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business blocks, and even bridges to their credit. It was often through one

of these lesser commissions that they became known to the County

Commissioners and were later offered courthouse contracts.

The contracts signed between the Commissioners and the architect were

similar for each county. The architect was directed to make plans and

specifications, to superintend the building in order to make sure that all

work and materials were of the quality specified, to spend a specific number

of days each month at the site, and report regularly to the Commissioners.

His salary was usually a percentage (2 to 4 percent) of the total cost of the

building. The Commissioners seem to have been cautious men, who made

sure that they got full measure for the large amounts of money they spent.

The active period of courthouse building from 1870 to 1895 in

northwestern Ohio counties marks a time when Ohio as a state, and this

region as part of that state, began to participate in architecture as part of a

national expression. The recognition of the architect as a professional, and

his competency to deal with a variety of architectural styles as evidenced in

these courthouses, helped to make the Midwest a proving ground for the

development of the indigenous architecture of the Chicago school

exemplified by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.