It’s usually pretty easy to have your voice heard by local government. For starters, you could show up at a commissioners’ meeting, sign a petition, or hold a protest outside the county building. If all else fails, it might not hurt to gather up six of your elderly bridge club friends and pose naked for a calendar that draws attention to your plight! That’s what the self-styled “Courthouse Girls” from Farmland did while the historic Randolph County Courthouse awaited the wrecking ball. It worked!
Here’s what happened. Originally built in 1877, the Randolph County Courthouse was two stories tall with a high mansard roof and ornate clock tower. Its architect, self-trained J.C. Johnson, rose to prominence in the Midwest and designed the courthouse to match the Second Empire style popular during the Victorian era. By and large, the building appears the same today as it did when it was constructed 140 years ago.
That wasn’t always the case, though. Two more of Johnson’s courthouses are located within a hundred miles of Winchester’s, and all three had serious structural issues with their clock towers that necessitated their removal. Perhaps being a self-trained architect was easier said than done, or maybe the Courthouse Construction for Dummies book he checked out was missing a few pages.
Whatever the case, the 1954 obliteration of the courthouse’s clock tower, along with its mansard roof, meant the loss of a Winchester landmark visible from miles away. Those were important details for a courthouse – especially one that county historian Ebenezer Tucker described as “indeed a gem of beauty, a marvel of taste and elegance1.”
A soaring clock tower served as a landmark from far away and a marvel up close, and any city that erected such an opulent courthouse was obviously prosperous. Unfortunately, the beautiful tower had to come down. Dry beams and inadequate wiring made it susceptible to conflagrations, and the building wasn’t fireproofed when it was built. To make matters worse, the tall, narrow tower was predisposed to swaying in strong winds. By the fifties, it had damaged the roof.
A state fire marshal’s report suggested the tower had shifted from its original supports and that a gust could send it crashing into Washington Street2. Tearing down the tower was more appealing than removing its wreckage from the bustling streets of Winchester, so away it went as part of a $60,000 project that added an elevator, a new courtroom, and a new third floor carved out of the attic3.
Fifty years later, the old building was rotting. County commissioners voted 2-1 to demolish the courthouse4 in favor of building a new courthouse or moving to an empty Walmart on the other side of town. A Walmart! Not everyone agreed with the commissioners’ plan, and Indiana Landmarks put the building on its 10 Most Endangered list. 5,000 residents signed a petition to keep the courthouse standing.
That’s when the Courthouse Girls stepped in. Holding only a porcelain model of the building to preserve their modesty, the elderly women stripped and posed for a calendar to draw awareness to the plight of their beloved building. Proceeds went to a ‘Save the Courthouse’ fund, and the calendar went viral5. Soon after, commissioners voted to rescind their earlier decision. The courthouse was saved, an a plan was developed to expand and restore it6.
The project was completed in the fall of 2011 as workers guided the last piece of the new tower to its final destination 132 feet in the air. After 57 years, Randolph County was on the map again with a new, old courthouse visible from miles around! Just to keep things interesting, the occasion didn’t pass without a few more instances of clock tower drama: its installation was delayed after high winds and a truck accident7.
Once the curtain finally fell on the 64-year drama, Randolph County again had a courthouse it could be proud of again! Winchester’s First Presbyterian Church was so enamored with the tower that they hired its builder to restore its own cupola8! Six years later, another one of J.C. Johnson’s courthouses –this time in Defiance, Ohio- welcomed its own replacement.
If old postcards are any indication, the tower looks pretty close to what was originally there. Some seem to imply the tower’s dome was sheathed in a darker material to match the building’s mansard roof, but I won’t quibble. Winchester has a landmark again! You can see it from miles away.
Aside from the replacement tower, the restoration of the Randolph County Courthouse added a substantial new wing and primary entrance to the structure. It matched the old building in nearly every way, and the project compelled me to start my trip to all of Indiana’s historic courthouse way back in 2011. As our courthouses continue to age and adapt, I hope cities look to Winchester as an example of how technological advances can mix with the remarkable designs of years past. Preserving and restoring our architectural heritage is important!
TL;DR
Randolph County (pop. 25,627, 60/92)
Winchester (pop. 4,854).
16/92 Photographed
Built: 1877, decapitated in 1954, restored and expanded in 2012.
Cost: $80,900 ($1.82 million in 2016), $7.6 million
Architect: J.C. Johnson (1877) Bob Taylor (2011)
Style: Second Empire
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 132 feet
Current use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 8/16/15- 16/92
Sources Cited
1 Tucker, Ebenezer . A History of Randolph County With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. Chicago. A.L. Kingman, 1882. Print.
2 “Randolph County Officials Study Bids For Work on Historical Courthouse” The Palladium-Item [Richmond] April 15, 1954: 11. Print.
3 “Courthouse Project Finished at Winchester” The Muncie Star [Muncie] September 26, 1955: 14. Print.
4 “Overhaul” The Star Press [Muncie] May 16, 2011: 2. Print.
5 “Courthouse Girls bare all for building” The Indianapolis Star [Indianapolis] July 31, 2005: 1. Print.
6 “Randolph” The Palladium Item [Richmond] May 22, 2012: 2. Print.
7 “Randolph Co. is back on the clock (or vice versa)” The Star Press [Muncie] October 4, 2011: 1. Print.
8 “Church topped with new steeple” The Palladium Item [Richmond] October 11, 2011: 5. Print.
