Some of the first settlers in Rush County were Quakers who migrated from North Carolina and Virginia in protest of slavery and settled in the township in 1821, a year before the county was formally organized. Though the county jail was the first public building constructed in Rush County, the first courthouse followed a year later in 1823.
Rush County’s first courthouse was a two-story, brick building with walls twenty-two inches thick1. By 1840, the county had grown nearly 70% over the previous decade and that first courthouse was no longer able to adequately serve the community. In 1847, John Elder designed a new 50×80 foot brick courthouse that was built for $12,000.
Elder was forced to flee the state in 1850 in order to escape the pursuit of Rush County creditors incensed at his mismanagement of the project3. Needless to say, Rushville’s was his last courthouse commission.
People continued to flock to Rush County. By 1896, the county was nearing 20,000 people and a third courthouse was in order. Meanwhile, the reputation of the Rush family was growing at a similar trajectory. Father and son A.W. and E.A had recently completed two enormous Richardson Romanesque courthouses in Pulaski and Fulton Counties, and Rush County officials officials were taken with the their interpretation of the style.
Though similar effects were achieved in Pulaski County for $50,000 and Fulton County for $150,000, county officials pledged an unheard-of $250,000 towards creation of a new county courthouse that dwarfed both of them. The community was so proud of the new design that schools and factories closed down while the cornerstone was laid5.
After two years of construction, commissioners entered the building to find marble stairs, stained glass windows containing an allegorical figure of justice and the Indiana state seal, oaken woodwork, and Italian tile. Though any remaining plain-speaking Quakers may have scoffed at the building’s ostentatiousness upon its dedication, they certainly couldn’t have turned their noses up at the building’s hardiness: all of its original accoutrements still exist today.
In fact, as of the building’s 1975 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, county officials were in the process of drawing up contracts to restore its exterior only after locating the original supplier of the courthouse’s tiled roof6. Now that’s dedication.
The courthouse is one of our state’s tallest, reaching 196 feet above street level, though the bulk of the building measures just 3 1/2 stories tall. Though it’s sheathed in limestone, the courthouse is supported by an early attempt at a steel frame. Each of the courthouse’s four corner towers are capped with a pyramidal roof, as is the main clock tower, which is framed by four conical turrets and rises from a steep, hipped roof.
Aside from rectangular windows on its first floor, the rest of the building features the rounded (not pointed) arches of the Richardson Romanesque style. A smooth, projecting stone course serves as a lintel that separates the second floor from the first, and a rectangular cornice supports corinthian pilasters that divide the second story’s arched windows, the tops of which have been filled in.
The courthouse is unquestionably majestic, but locals got used to it over time. In 1973, the Rushville Daily Republican described the building in an editorial that opined, “Despite the fact that the courthouse looms large in the local skyline, people tend to take its magnificence for granted. One may ‘look at’ the structure every day, but seldom is it really seen. It is both a rewarding and fascinating experience to take the time to ‘see’ the courthouse7.”
I wholeheartedly agree. I believe all of Indiana’s courthouses, historic or modern, are worth taking the time to “see,” whether that’s pulling up next to one and taking photos with an eye to detail, or getting on Google and doing a quick dive into their history.
Richardson Romanesque structures emphasize strong massing, rounded arches, heavy rustication, and enormous towers and turrets. Nearly a hundred and thirty years after it was built, the Rush County Courthouse looks like it will stand until the end of time! If the care and attention to detail local officials have given the building over the years mean anything, it probably will.
TL;DR
Rush County (pop. 17,004, 76/92)
Rushville (pop. 6,051).
23/92 photographed
Built: 1896
Cost: $257,385.38 ($7.39 million in 2016)
Architect: A.W. & E.A Rush
Style: Richardson Romanesque
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 196 feet
Current use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 8/18/15
Sources Cited
1 Enyart, David. “Architects” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. March 16, 2019.
2 National Register of Historic Places, Walnut Ridge Friends Meeting House, Carthage, Rush County, Indiana, National Register # 84001616.
3 Alexander, Mary M. Thomas. Sketches of Rush County, Indiana. Rushville. The Jacksonian Publishing Company. 1915. Print.
4 “Washington County, Indiana” American Fact Finder. United States Census Bureau. 2018. Retrieved from https://factfinder.census.gov.
5 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Shelby County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved from http://indianacourthousesquare.org
6 National Register of Historic Places, Rush County Courthouse, Rushville, Rush County, Indiana, National Register # 75000048.
7 “Rush County in Perspective” The Rushville Republican [Rushville]. April 25, 1973. 8. Print.
