Erected in 1860, the Decatur County Courthouse is a remarkable relic of pre-Civil War architecture. It stands proudly as one of the few that old still serving Hoosier governments! Of course, what truly sets the courthouse apart is the peculiar sight that greets its visitors- a tree growing out of its clock tower.
Decatur County was organized in 1822, and Greensburg was founded the same year1. Courts were held at the house of Thomas Hendricks until 1825. The county’s first courthouse, a 40×40-foot brick structure, was completed in 18272. Work began on the current courthouse, which William Jennings Bryan called “the finest specimen of Gothic Architecture” he’d seen, in 18543.
Legend has it that the seeds of Greensburg’s arboreal oddity were carried by birds during the construction project before they found their home in the recesses of the clock tower4. The combination of grime and moisture proved to be a perfect spot for germination.
Despite several attempts to prune them, the trees persisted. They became a beloved local curiosity. Nevertheless, the saga of the courthouse trees remains shrouded in mystery. Some speculate that they’re aspen, while others have identified them as mulberries.
Unfortunately, a trip up the building’s dusty ladders to the highest point inside the clock tower reveals very little. The roots of the trees lie somewhere between the tower’s vaulted ceiling and the shingles outside5. Regardless of their species, their presence adds to the allure of the building, drawing tourists from far and wide.
Trees might seem out of place at the top of a 115-foot clock tower, but they were common political symbols during Indiana’s earliest days. Delegates were said to have debated and drafted Indiana’s first constitution under Corydon’s Constitution Elm, and Robert LaSalle convened with the chiefs of three Native American tribes under the Council Oak near South Bend.
Beyond those moments, Governor William Henry Harrison met with Tecumseh under Vincennes’ Treaty Tree, and early trials in Clark County took place with the parties sitting on benches fashioned from stumps6. Greensburg’s famous pair of trees overshadow the courthouse as the state’s most famous, but it’s an outstanding building with or without any foliage.
The courthouse combines Gothic features with those of the Italianate and Romanesque architectural modes. Constructed of pinkish brick, it sits in a scenic central square in the middle of a picturesque downtown. Overall, the courthouse reminds me of the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall. In 1968, Ball State professor David Hermansen described it as “…an interesting and curious solution, asymmetrical in plan and picturesque and rambling in silhouette7.”
A couple years after the saplings were first trimmed, the building’s interior received an extensive makeover that split the second-floor courtroom into two stories to make room for more offices. In 1903, its pink brick was slathered in white stucco as part of what appeared to be a short-lived trend in courthouse architecture in southern Indiana. After years of wear, the coating was removed more than seventy years later.
Nearly six decades later, Hermansen’s assessment of the sprawling courthouse is even more accurate. Officials wanted to expand the building as early as the 1960s8, but the process took thirty years. In 1994, a $9.7 million annex that captures the spirit of the original structure, if not its scale, was added to the north side of the courthouse.
The project unobtrusively tripled the building’s square footage and restored the original structure. Aesthetically, it’s one of the best sympathetic additions to a historic courthouse I’ve seen. Connected to the main courthouse by a glass hyphen, the new wing preserves the building’s vitality without competing with it.
Ultimately, the Decatur County Courthouse stands as a testament to resilience and adaptation and the art of blending the old with the new. It’s also a reminder of the dynamic between the natural and the man-made! Whether drawing admiration for its architecture or curiosity for the enigmatic inhabitants of its clock tower, the building remains an enduring symbol of community pride, widespread curiosity, and historical intrigue.
TL;DR
Decatur County (pop. 26,277, 62/92)
Greensburg (pop.11,747).
45/92 photographed
Built: 1860, expanded in 1890, expanded in 1994.
Cost: $120,000 ($3.2 million in 2016)
Architect: Edwin May; McDonald Bros.
Style: Italianate
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 110 feet
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 8/23/15
Sources Cited
1 Harding, L.A. (1915). History of Decatur County Indiana. B.F. Bowen & Company, Inc. [Indianapolis]. Book.
2 Enyart, David. “Decatur County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved 4/1/18.
3 Greensburg Daily News: 8 18, 1966:
4 National Register of Historic Places, Decatur County Courthouse, Greensburg, Decatur County, Indiana, National Register # 73000014.
5 “Inside the Decatur County Courthouse” WTHR. July 22, 2015. Web. Retrieved 4/1/18.
6 Counts, Will; Jon Dilts (1991). The 92 Magnificent Indiana Courthouses. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. Print.
7 Indiana County Courthouses of the 19th Century, By David R. Hermansen publ ! d Ball State Univ. Faculty Lecture Series 1967-68
8 “County annex 30 years in making” The Columbus Republic [Columbus, Indiana]: May 28, 1995. Print.
9 County finalizes plans for courthouse project (1994, December 11). The Columbus Republic. p. 46.
A former Decatur County Director of Tourism told me that sometimes the tower tree dies and must be replaced.
…aaaaaaaand there goes my innocence