I’m a contrarian: despite my love of historic county courthouses, I like most of the modern courthouses I’ve been to. Without newer courthouses, we wouldn’t know how to properly value their predecessors! The best of both worlds can be found in Scott County, Indiana, where the courthouse bridges the gap as a mix of two eras thanks to an expansive addition that makes it a unique hybrid of historic and modern constructs.
Pundits and politicians use the phrase “flyover country” to describe the United States between its east and west coasts. To that end, Scott County might as well be right in the middle of Indiana’s drive-through country. Most people pass it on their way down I-65 from Indianapolis to Louisville, but I doubt many stop.
Scott County is tiny by nearly every measure. Geographically, it ranks 88th by clocking in at a paltry 190.4 square miles1. According to the most recent Census, the county ranks 81st out of 92 in per capita income, while it also ranks 65th in population2. Most of the people who live there are concentrated in three extant towns- Scottsburg, Lexington, and Austin, and as you might guess, the area is far from being a hotspot of social activity. Unfortunately, the county obtained national notoriety as a hotspot for an HIV outbreak that afflicted more than 200 residents in 20093.
Issues aside, the Scott County Courthouse is truly great. In actuality, the county’s lack of resources is probably why it retains such a historic courthouse, since officials might have demolished its the original portion on the westernmost part of the courthouse lawn if more money had been available! Thankfully, they didn’t.
Before Scottsburg, Scott County had one previous county seat -Lexington- about ten miles southeast. Although a courthouse was used by local officials until 1874, it was repurposed as a school for fifteen years after the county seat moved. Today, Lexington’s home to a different historic elementary school. The 1874 courthouse was designed by Andrew Baty and built by Travis Carter. It’s three bays wide and seven deep across a cruciform shape. The structure was built with unglazed red brick laid in common bond on top of the building’s foundation, and each of its sides features a low-pitched, gabled roof with a wide frieze and cornice returns4. All those elements converged to give the courthouse a distinct Italianate feel.
Originally, the courthouse’s main entrance was at its north face. There, a set of stairs led up to a pair of doors topped by a fixed transom. Just above the transom was a semicircular limestone panel that named the building’s original construction superintendents. A pair of classical, four-over-four windows with limestone sills still flank that entrance, and the second story repeats the plan.
The courthouse served its constituents for more than 120 years before county officials commissioned Ratio Architects of Indianapolis to design an enormous expansion in 1995. It’s one of the best revitalizations of a courthouse that I’ve ever seen, even as it tripled the building’s square footage! Ratio conjured up a new east wing that measured an identical three bays wide and seven bays deep. The two wings are nearly identical from an aesthetic standpoint, but the addition has a semicircular projection on the second floor that fits within the rectangular floor plan.
Ratio designed a five-bay-wide modern atrium to connect the original building with its eastern duplicate. Although the original building never featured one, the current courthouse has a contemporary aluminum cupola that complements both wings of the building5. I’ve never seen a historically-sympathetic addition add so much modern flair to a building while adding so much symmetry and allowing the original structure retain its identity!
If you walked into the courthouse, you’d see the original western face of the 1874 building in the atrium since it was largely left in place. The new areas of the courthouse are all impressive, but it’s even more outstanding that the original structure cost only $20,000 when it was built and still serves its constituents after more than 140 years of operation.
Instead of tearing down an old, outdated building, officials doubled down by expanding it and creating something new. The result was a completely different structure curated through a combination of modern and matching styles. The courthouse doesn’t sappily pander to rose-tinted nostalgia, but it uses the original building’s cues, with some contemporary touches, to define its own path. I really, really, like that.
Beyond some convenient stopping points, it might not seem like tiny Scottsburg has much to offer someone traveling past on their way to a bigger city. That’s wrong! Despite the area’s challenges, downtown Scottsburg struck me as a slice of quintessential Indiana with a theater, churches, and lots of occupied commercial buildings that complimented the courthouse square. A great old -and new- courthouse ties it all together, and it’s worth making a stop to see for yourself.
TL;DR
Scott County (pop. 6,731, 65/92)
Scottsburg (pop.2,084).
Built: 1873, expanded in 1997
41/92 photographed.
Cost: $19,790 ($395,282 in 2016)
Architect: Andrew R. Baty
Style: Italianate/Modern
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 2.5 stories
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 8/23/15
Sources Cited
1 “Indiana Land area in square miles, 2010 by County” indexMundi. 2019. Web. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
2 “Indiana Population Projection Maps and Visualizations”. STATS Indiana. Indiana University. Web. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
3 “Mike Pence Is Still to Blame for an HIV Outbreak in Indiana—but for New Reasons” The Nation. The Nation Company, L.P. [New York] May 21, 2009. Web. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
4 National Register of Historic Places, Scottsburg Courthouse Historic District, Scottsburg, Scott County, Indiana, National Register # 03000547.
5 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Scott County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
