Indiana’s earliest county governments frequently relocated, but officials in Martin County set the record. Between 1820 and 2004, the community changed county seats an astounding eleven times! Aside from the modern courthouse in Shoals, the 1877 Martin County Courthouse across the river is nearly all that remains of those early maneuverings. It’s a real landmark!
The land that makes up Martin County was first part of Knox County to the west. It became a portion of Daviess County in 1817 and gained independence three years later. Hindostan was named its first county seat after residents courted officials with land, cash, a courthouse square, and money for a bell. Unfortunately, a nasty plague spread through town. There’s nothing left of the place today aside from a cemetery1.
The county seat moved to the greener pastures of Mount Pleasant in 1828. A brick courthouse was erected the following year. It lasted sixteen years before decision-makers determined that the county seat needed to sit closer to the center of the county. In 1844, officials moved to Halbert’s Bluff, then called Memphis2. Rural constituents were upset by the change, and a series of courthouses followed in Harrisonville, Hillsborough, and in Harrisonville again to try and appease them.
The record gets muddy from there. Halbert’s Bluff turned into West Shoals, Harrisonville was renamed Trinity Springs, and Hillsborough became Dover Hill. Most of those places were backwoods and slapdash. When a town couldn’t wrangle up a suitable courthouse quickly enough, officials chose somewhere else in short order3. All that’s left of a governmental presence in those early seats is the old jail at Dover Hill, long since converted to a dwelling.
County seats continued to be established. Ironically, none of the towns that took the time to plat an actual courthouse square received the nod4! Fortunately, Martin County finally got its act together when the county seat moved back to Halbert’s Bluff -West Shoals, by then- in 1871. They built a 45 x 45 foot brick courthouse for $29,000, but it was destroyed by fire five years later. Some historians believe the conflagration may have stemmed from bad blood left over from the county’s geopolitical maneuverings5.
Despite the loss, officials stayed in West Shoals and rebuilt the courthouse on its original foundation. Courts and offices moved across the river to Shoals during construction, but the second courthouse in West Shoals was finished in 1877. The two-story building sits on a foundation of local sandstone and takes the form of a Greek Revival temple with flat arches and pilasters.
Three bays wide by six bays long, the building’s first story features rectangular, six-over-six double-hung windows. The second floor rises above a contrasting limestone string course and features similar windows that terminate in round arches. The central bay of the courthouse features double doors topped with a transom and iron balcony.
Originally, the roofline of the courthouse featured two rows of ten chimneys and a decorative wooden cornice that may remain under the current aluminum soffit8. Above that, the most prominent feature of the courthouse is its tiered bell tower that sits on a trapezoidal base. From there, the tower takes the appearance of a squared-off wedding cake up to its apex, an intriguing octagonal dome.
Shoals and West Shoals eventually merged. Afterward, the courthouse received a milquetoast brick addition in 1956. By 1999, the place was a mess! The courthouse lacked the room to add an elevator, it couldn’t accommodate ADA requirements, and officials had simply run of out room. That year, they purchased the old Martin County Bank building across the river in Shoals to become the next county courthouse.
The Martin County Historical Society partnered with an organization called the Trinity Springs Mustering Elm to ensure the venerable courthouse wouldn’t go to waste6. In 2002, county officials sold the old building to the groups for a dollar to use as the Martin County Museum with an option to buy it back at the same price in the future7.
I first visited the old courthouse in 2016. It was in sorry shape with missing bricks, fading paint, and rusty siding. When I got home and reviewed my snapshots, I noticed the tower was reclining backwards as if nearly 140 years in service was enough to put its feet up. I returned to take photos of the modern courthouse two years later when the 1877 structure caught my eye from across the river. It looked different!
I drove over the big bridge and found that the siding had been removed. The tower was covered in billowing plastic sheets- it was being restored! Unbeknownst to me, the Indiana Historical Society gifted Martin County a $50,000 Heritage Support grant to rehabilitate the compromised structure11. I was pleased to learn of the renovation. I love it when old buildings can be saved, and I was glad the lean so visible in my pictures wasn’t due to my inexperience as a photographer.
Since my last visit, Helming Brothers, Inc. has completed the tower’s renovation and restored it to its original appearance. There’s more work to be done on the rest of the building, though, and I hope my membership in the Martin County Historical Society contributes a little to help make it happen. I haven’t seen the building’s restored belfry in person yet, but I hope to return there soon.
Martin County is a fascinating place with a fantastic old courthouse and an intriguing history. Although its modern courthouse isn’t much to write home about, we can learn something about Indiana’s early geopolitical struggles from the effort to preserve the 1877 Martin County Courthouse. Aside from the Jug Rock, it might be Martin County’s best landmark!
TL;DR
Martin County (pop. 10,160, 87/92)
Shoals (pop. 736)
84/92 photographed
Built: 1877
Cost: $8,588 ($196,302 in 2016)
Architect: William P. George
Style: Greek Revival
Courthouse Square: None
Height: 2 stories
Current Use: Non-governmental
Photographed: 7/10/2016, 7/7/2018
Sources Cited
1 “Hindostan Cemetery” Find A Grave. Ancestry.com, LLC. Web. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
2 “Shoals attracting attention with pure civic pride” The Herald [Jasper]. April 26, 1999. Print.
3 “Loogootee” The Herald [Jasper]. August 28, 2002. 8. Print.
4 Enyart, David. “Martin County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved 1/14/20.
5 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Martin County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved 1/14/20.
6 “Groups unite to save courthouse” The Vincennes Sun-Commercial [Vincennes]. January 20, 2003. 3. Print.
7 National Register of Historic Places, Martin County Courthouse, Shoals, Martin County, Indiana, National Register # 05000604.
8 “Martin County Historical Society awarded $50,000” Dubois County Herald [Jasper]. 6/30/17. Web. Retrieved 1/14/20.
