Towns and Nature: Fort Wayne, IN: Courthouses

Monday, October 2, 2017

Fort Wayne, IN: Courthouses

Tom's history (Tom considers the current courthouse building to be the fourth one whereas Kenneth's posting below implies it is the fifth.)

(Update: Kenneth Childers also posted 57 postcards including some interior views. Many of the views of the Lincoln Tower also include at least the dome of the courthouse.)

Third Courthouse

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted
1880 Courthouse
Nancy Parker 2nd or 3rd??
Debra Switzer Bercot This is the 3 rd...
Craig Leonard 1861 courthouse, designed by Indianapolis architect Edwin Way, who also did the present State Capitol.
Craig Leonard The closest surviving May courthouse in design is Hamilton County(Noblesville) Others remain in Greensburg, Decatur County and Vincennes, Knox County.
Craig Leonard The central cupola of the 1861 building was visible out the windows of Wing & Mahurin's first offices on Calhoun Street. They copied it on a large school design that they built several times. The only known survivor is now a community center in Valparaiso, IN.

Fourth Courthouse

Kenneth Childers posted
THE FOURTH COURTHOUSE.
The brick building which was torn down in 1897 to give room for the erection of the present Allen county courthouse was built during the war of the rebellion and dedicated at a time when the people were weighed down with anxieties and sorrows and excited over political dissensions. The cornerstone was laid May 1, 1861, and the building was accepted by the commissioners July 23, 1862. The complete cost was $78,000. The structure stood in the center of the public square, surrounded by a grass plot and shade trees. It served the county for a period of thirty-five years.
[Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana by B.J. Griswold]