Most of Indiana’s rural county seats seem like they’re in the middle of nowhere. Many are in the middle of the county, but Spencer is in the middle of the country! At least it was in the 1920 census, which reported that the mean center of the United States population was at a point just eight miles south. That’s no longer the case, but the fantastic Owen County Courthouse is reason enough for census fans, if there are any, to make a stop regardless.
Owen County’s one-time status as the center of the country’s population says a lot about westward expansion in the United States. The county was formed in 1819. Its first courthouse, a log “double building1” was erected a year later, when the mean center was in Hardy County, West Virginia2. James Gallantly designed the second courthouse, a brick structure completed in 1825.
The 1825 courthouse was enlarged and expanded in 1837 when it received a cupola resmbling the one on the Morgan County’s courthouse nearby3. The mean population center breached Indiana’s borders in 1890, and it soon became clear that the old building could no longer serve its constituents4. Soon after, officials hired Jesse Townsend Johnson to design a replacement. The $106,000 courthouse was completed in 1911.
In Indiana, courthouse architects began to shift away from resplendent beaux arts and Richardson Romanesque styles in the early 1900s. Instead, they embraced the comparatively simplistic stylings of Neoclassicism. A blocky building with tall pilasters and a restrained selection of entablatures, the three-story Owen County Courthouse certainly fits the genre.
The courthouse features details seen in many of its peers like pilasters, rectangular windows, and banded rustication. What sets Owen County’s apart from peers in places like Petersburg, Delphi, or Rockport, is its enormous copper dome. Although many Neoclassical courthouses feature stained glass rotundas lit from skylights hidden behind a parapet, that’s not the case in Spencer.
The ribbed, octagonal dome houses an original Seth Thomas clock was built of wood decking and steel beams. The dome featured windows at first, but they were covered with galvanized metal sheets in 1983. The metal was painted gold to try and match its original color, but the project didn’t pan out as expected. Officials planned to reopen the windows and replace the copper to restore the dome in the 1980s5, but I’m not sure it ever happened.
Despite changes to the dome and the installation of replacement windows in 1992, the courthouse remains very close to its original design. Inside, it’s a bizarre mix of Classical Revival and Arts and Crafts styles. Most notably, the interior features iron balustrades, pilasters, marble, and decorative elements that emphasize geometrical lines. My favorite feature is the cramped, iron staircase near the third-floor courtroom that spans the full height of the building from the basement to the dome6.
The courtroom is more ornate than any other place in the building, including the lobby. Fancy courtrooms were common in old courthouses, but few architects took it to the extreme Jesse Townsend Johnson did. Twenty-foot columns support the room’s high ceilings, and ninety-nine folding oak chairs with iron embellishments accomodate spectators. At one point, a dumbwaiter even provided access to documents from the county clerk’s office!
Back outside, additional sights worth seeing populate the square. The big one is Owen County’s Spirit of the American Doughboy statue. Artist E.M. Viquesney sculpted the statue in honor of World War I veterans. Holding a rifle in his left hand and a hand grenade defiantly clutched in his right, the doughboy was extremely popular during the 1920s and 30s. More than 150 were created7.
Indiana is home to eleven of the statues. I’ve seen many on courthouse lawns, but Owen County’s is special. Viquesney hailed from Spencer. He was even on hand for the statue’s dedication in 1927! Sculptures abound at the courthouse- the west side of the square also features an Owen County War Memorial built into its retaining wall8.
Given its monumental stature and surroundings, it’s hard to believe the Owen County Courthouse was practically a newborn, just nine years old, when the area was reported as the mean center of the country’s population. A hundred years later, the mean center was fifteen miles north of Hartville, the seat of Wright County, Missouri. Hartville was once home to an impressive old courthouse of its own. Today, justice is administered from a charmless structure that resembles a 1960s-era middle school.
I’m glad that the Owen County Courthouse was spared the same fate. Historic courthouses hold allure that can’t be replicated by modern replacements, and Owen County’s is a real gem among the spate of neoclassical courthouses across Indiana. It may have been years since Owen County was the center of anywhere, but its courthouse is an irreplaceable treasure and an icon of downtown Spencer.
TL:DR
Owen County (pop. 21,201, 67/92)
Spencer (pop. 2,250)
72/92 photographed
Built: 1911
Cost: $106,000 ($2.72 million in 2016)
Architect: Jesse T. Johnson
Style: Neoclassical
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 75 feet
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed 3/27/16
Sources Cited
1 Enyart, David. “Owen County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. October 18, 2019.
2 US Census Bureau (2020). Position of the Geographic Center of Area, Mean and Median Centers of Population: 2020. Web. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 (See footnote 2).
5 National Register of Historic Places, Owen County Courthouse, Spencer, Owen County, Indiana, National Register # 94001351.
6 (See footnote 5).
7 Greiff, Glory-June. “Remebrance, Faith, and Fancy: Outdoor Public Sculpture in Indiana”. Indiana Historical Society Press [Indianapolis]. 2005. Print.
8 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Owen County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved 10/17/19.
8 Enyart, David. “Owen County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. October 18, 2019.
9 (See footnote 2).
