The Blackford County Courthouse is a historic building located in Hartford City, Indiana, the county seat of Blackford County. The building stands on a public square in the city's downtown commercial district. Built during the Indiana Gas Boom, most of the construction work was completed in 1894. The current courthouse was preceded by another courthouse building on the same site, which was declared inadequate by a judge in 1893, and was torn down. Following the condemnation of the original courthouse, the county's judicial activities were temporarily located in a building across the street.
The current courthouse was designed by architects Arthur LaBelle and Burt L. French, who were from nearby Marion, Indiana. The building's architectural style is Richardsonian Romanesque, which was popular during the second half of the 19th century. The large corner tower of the building is the tallest structure in the downtown commercial district. Considered "the county's most outstanding landmark", the structure is often pictured on web sites associated with the area, and continues to house local government over 100 years after its construction.
In addition to the courthouse building, the buildings around the courthouse square are also historic in nature and considered contributing properties to the Hartford City Courthouse Square Historic District. The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and was included as a contributing property to the historic district in 2006. Most of the buildings in the Courthouse Square Historic District continue to have facades that look similar to their original design. Although the interior has been remodeled, the exterior of the courthouse also retains its original appearance.
History
The small cluster of log cabins called Hartford was designated the county seat of Blackford County in 1837, when legislation to create the county was proposed. Despite being created in 1838, no county government was organized until 1839, and there was some dissent over the location of the county seat. During June 1939, Indiana Governor David Wallace appointed Nicholas Friend as the new county's sheriff, and elections were held soon thereafter. The log cabin homes of county officials served as county government buildings during the first year of the county's organized existence. County affairs were first handled at the log cabin home of Andrew Boggs, which was located just north of Little Lick Creek in Licking Township. This cabin was, in effect, the capitol of Blackford County for about three months.
Site Among the first orders made by the new county government was a survey of of wilderness located to the north of Boggs’ cabin, parts of which had been donated for the purpose of housing the seat of government. A public square was to be located on of land, on which the seat of justice was to be located. It was also ordered that the seat of justice was to be named Hartford. The were owned by three individuals living in an adjacent county. The owners donated every other lot to the county as part of a plan to ensure that the county seat was located there—and increase the value of their property. Despite the county government's orders and plans, no action was taken on constructing a courthouse. In September 1839, the county commissioners began conducting business in the home of Jacob Emshwiller. For a few months, the Emshwiller home was the new capitol of Blackford County.
Montpelier, Indiana, is located in the northeastern portion of Blackford County, in Harrison Township. In late 1839, the location of the county seat was formally contested, as the citizens of Montpelier believed their community would be a better location. Montpelier had been platted in 1837, while the "town" of Hartford was still wilderness north of a cluster of log cabins. However, Licking Township, where Hartford was located, contained more of the county's population. Licking township did not have a platted community like Montpelier, but had attracted farmers because the land near Lick Creek had acceptable drainage.
The board of commissioners ruled against Montpelier in a January 1840, session. In November 1840, the board ordered the construction of a courthouse—which was to be located in Hartford. The plan was for a , two-story, "hewed-log" courthouse. The commissioners went into considerable detail describing the building. However, the courthouse was not constructed because of continuing controversy over the location (Hartford or Montpelier) of the county seat.
In 1841, the commissioners again settled on Hartford as the location for the county seat, and planning for Blackford County's original courthouse began. On September 11, 1841, the Blackford County board of commissioners ordered that written proposals should be received to build a courthouse on the public square in the town of Hartford. The building was to be square, high, and built of brick on a stone foundation. The courthouse grounds occupied instead of the proposed in 1839.
Original courthouse The contract for Blackford County's first courthouse was let on December 7, 1841, and construction was supervised by Charles and William F. Jones. The proposed cost for the courthouse was $5,600 (). Until the courthouse was ready, rooms were rented from various members of the community for conducting county government. By May 1845, an arrangement was made for the upper floor to be used for court proceedings until the entire building was completed. Finally, in a special session held October 31, 1845, the board of commissioners found that the courthouse had been completed according to contract. The total cost for the courthouse building was $5,750.
The small community grew to a population of 250 by 1850, and it took 30 more years to get close to a population of 1,500. Early during that period, "Hartford" became known as "Hartford City" because another Hartford existed elsewhere in the state. In 1887, Hartford City Gas and Oil Company drilled Hartford City's first natural gas well, and Hartford City's participation in the Indiana Gas Boom began. The area experienced a period of economic growth and prosperity as manufacturers moved to the region to utilize the low-cost energy.
An 1887 description of the courthouse called it "a plain building…its architecture characteristic of the pioneer times". It also said the building "is still good enough were it only in better repair." On January 19, 1893, Judge Joseph L. Custer declared the "courtroom to be an inadequate place for the transaction of the business of this court", and that court business "be held elsewhere in some suitable place in the county seat."
Current courthouse
The county commissioners responded in March 1893, to the Judge's declaration that the (original) courthouse was inadequate. The three commissioners, T. T. McGeath, I. L. Hughs, and A. W. Miles, ordered that a new courthouse was necessary. A week later, they engaged the Marion firm of LaBelle and French as architects for the new courthouse. Since the original courthouse was condemned, and Judge Custer (of the 48th Circuit Court of Indiana) refused to use it, arrangements were made to use the nearby opera house for courtroom proceedings until a new courthouse was available. On May 20, 1893, the old courthouse building was sold for $20, and removed from the grounds to enable construction of the new structure. In October, it was decided that the opera house was not suitable for courtroom proceedings because of possible theatrical conflicts, so rooms were rented at the newly built Briscoe Block building located on the south side of the courthouse square. Two rooms, with gas heat included, were rented for a total of $400 per year. One room would be for the circuit court, while the other was for the county clerk's office.
On June 8, 1893, LaBelle and French provided the county commissioners with a complete plan for the new courthouse. The architects designed a monumental stone courthouse in the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style that was popular in the United States at that time. The four-story building measured . It featured enormous arches on the northern and southern facades, semicircular towers on the east and west sides, and a clock tower on the southwest corner.
Although the community planned to build the courthouse as a monument to the city's (Gas Boom-related) prosperity, the commissioners were still concerned with costs. In late July 1893, the commissioners awarded the courthouse construction contract to the Fort Wayne firm of Boseker & Son. The price was cut to $97,000 by altering some of the architect's specifications. The stone chosen for the building was Amherst Blue from quarry number 9 in Amherst, Ohio. Work on the foundation was conducted in August, and the foundation stones were brought to town from Montpelier quarries located on the other side of the county.
On November 1, 1893, the city held a ceremony for the laying of the courthouse cornerstone. The local Free and Accepted Masons Lodge Number 106 ran the program. The ceremony included a parade, a welcome by prosecutor J. A. Hindman, a Masonic ceremony, an address by Mason Past Grand Master Martin H. Rice, and an address by historian Benjamin G. Shinn.
Construction Although a harsh winter sometimes made work difficult, construction of the courthouse progressed far enough that work on the large (3 stories high) arch on the southern façade began during February 1894. Around the same time, work to carve the frieze above the second story was sublet to Gustave Steuber. Much of the carving work around the building's entrances was conducted under Mr. Steuber's direction. The building's cornice was finished in April, and nearly all of the structure's stone was cut by that time. By June, work was started on the clock tower, and almost all of the roof was completed in August. The tower's clock arrived by rail in August from New Haven, Connecticut—although the tower was not ready to accommodate the timepiece until October. Installation of the clock was completed in November. By February 1895, the courthouse contractor considered the courthouse finished.
Construction completed On February 27, 1895, county officials began moving into the new courthouse. Total cost for the new courthouse was $129,337 (). Most of that expense was paid to the contractor, Boseker and Son. Among other expenses included in the total were $2,000 paid to the E. Howard Clock Company of Boston, $7,000 for furniture paid to the H. Ohmer and Sons Company, and $6,158 for architecture.
After the courthouse was completed, it was discovered that some modifications were needed for its plumbing and heating system. Outside of the courthouse, steps were also taken to beautify the surrounding grounds. Sidewalks were added, and eventually hitching racks for horses. A war memorial was added to the northeast corner of the courthouse grounds in 1921, and this was the first of the major war memorials that occupy the corners of the courthouse lawn. A total of nine memorials, monuments and commemorative plaques have been added to the grounds within the courthouse square.
Today's courthouse