Gibson County Courthouse (Indiana)

Since 1815, three separate buildings have served as the Gibson County Courthouse in Princeton, Gibson County, Indiana. The current building was constructed in 1884 and is located at the intersection of Indiana State Road 64 and Indiana State Road 65. It is an example of Romanesque Revival architecture and was the model for Department 56's Original Snow Village Courthouse.[2] Gibson County's Courthouse is of very similar design to the Johnson County Courthouse in Franklin, Indiana.[3]

Gibson County Courthouse
Southern and Western fronts of the courthouse
LocationTown Square, Princeton, Indiana
Coordinates38°21′19.93″N 87°34′5.27″W
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1883
ArchitectMcDonald Brothers
Architectural styleRomanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.84001038 [1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 27, 1984

History

The residence of Judge William Harrington was first used to conduct court business. Work on the first courthouse began on September 1, 1814. The building was constructed of bricks which were made nearby on the public square. It had two floors and measured 33 feet by 40 feet. It was first occupied in June 1815.[4]

The second courthouse was also made of brick and was completed in 1843 at a cost of about $9,000.[5][n 1]

The third (and current) courthouse was built on the site of the previous building. The cornerstone was laid on June 17, 1884, accompanied by a Masonic ceremony attended by several thousand people.[7] The McDonald Brothers of Louisville, Kentucky designed the Romanesque Revival building,[8] which was constructed by local contractor Joseph Miller of Washington, Indiana at a cost of $188,661.[9][n 2] The two-story building has a full basement and is made of red brick trimmed with stone; the interior is trimmed with black walnut and oak, and has mosaic tile floors.[8]

The trial of Leslie Irvin (also known as "Mad Dog Irvin") was conducted here in 1955.[8]

In 2006 and 2007, an aesthetic renovation project began. The exterior walls and corner towers as well as the central bell tower were repainted, and a gazebo donated by Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana was placed on the courthouse lawn.

Notes
  1. A $9,000 capital expense in 1843 would be roughly equivalent to $5,000,000 in 2010.[6]
  2. A $188,000 capital expense in 1884 would be roughly equivalent to $41,700,000 in 2010.[6]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Courthouse Snow Village". Dept. 56 Retirees, Inc. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  3. "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved 2016-04-01. Note: This includes Timothy A. Henning (February 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Gibson County Courthouse" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-04-01. and Accompanying photographs.
  4. Stormont 1914, pp. 81–82.
  5. Stormont 1914, p. 82.
  6. 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.
  7. Stormont 1914, p. 83.
  8. Counts and Dilts 1991, p. 58.
  9. Stormont 1914, p. 83. Counts and Dilts 1991, p. 58, gives the cost as $118,661.

Bibliography
  • Stormont, Gil R. (1914). "Chapter V. County Government". History of Gibson County, Indiana. Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen and Company. pp. 81–83.
  • Counts, Will; Jon Dilts (1991). The 92 Magnificent Indiana Courthouses. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33638-5.
  • Southeast Corner and Civil War monument.
  • Northwest Corner and Gazebo
  • Eastern face on Main Street
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