People like to assign human traits and characteristics to animals and inanimate objects. There are myriad psychological, social, and cultural reasons we do it. I tend to anthropomorphize courthouses. To me, LaPorte County’s looks like a Cyclops belting out his favorite tune! Its open-arched clock tower was designed to let natural light flood through a 273-piece skylight1.
I’ve admired the LaPorte County Courthouse ever since I was a kid. We used to drive past it on trips from my dad’s house in Elkhart to, well, I can’t remember. A swap meet? Anyway, the vibrant hue of its massive tower seemed to welcome us into town and wave goodbye as we left.
The present courthouse is the county’s third. Established in 1832, LaPorte County derives its name from the French words “la porte,” meaning “the door.” It’s said that French travelers bestowed this name upon the region after they encountered a clearing in the dense forests that served as an entry point to lands further westward2.
Three years after the county was founded, Simon Bunce built a 40×40 brick courthouse in LaPorte for $39753. It lasted fourteen years before officials hired John Van Osdel of Chicago to design a larger structure. Along with a portico, LaPorte County’s second courthouse featured a three-tiered belfry that gave it the appearance of a church4. Its cornerstone was incorporated into the present courthouse5.
Fort Wayne architect Brentwood Tolan was responsible for the towering third courthouse, which he completed in 1894 for $328,000. Tolan cut his teeth as part of his father T.J.’s firm, helping design courthouses in LaGrange, Rockville, and Warsaw.
The elder Tolan died in 1883, and Brentwood went on to design courthouses of his own in Muncie and Columbia City before he completed LaPorte’s. Later, he drew the plans for the Allen County Courthouse in Fort Wayne, one of the most beautiful in the United States.
Most of Brentwood Tolan’s courthouses loosely interpreted architectural modes like Second Empire and Beaux Arts. In LaPorte, he employed a “freewheeling6” rendition of the Richardson Romanesque style. With an emphasis on robust construction, bold forms, and expressive use of materials, Richardson Romanesque buildings drew hearty inspiration from the architecture of medieval Europe. They were enormously popular in the 1890s.
Aside from its yawning 172-foot clock tower, the defining feature of the LaPorte County Courthouse is its color. Red brick makes for some striking Richardson Romanesque structures, but a closer inspection reveals that the courthouse was built with sandstone. It’s Lake Superior red sandstone, to be exact, which was carried to Michigan City by boat and brought to LaPorte by rail. Iron oxide gives the stone its crimson color7.
The courthouse is striking from a distance, but some of my favorite features can only be seen close-up. Tolan incorporated forty-five decorative “argyles” into the structure. What’s an argyle, you ask? It’s a red sandstone sculpture of a head or an animal that Tolan incorporated into the building’s columns. They’re similar to gargoyles, but lack the ability to divert water away from the building’s foundation. Each of the argyles is different8.
In 1937, the building’s Michigan Avenue entrance was bricked in to make room for a vast, fireproof vault that rises from the basement to the second floor. According to some, the vault made the LaPorte County Courthouse one of the earliest to be considered fireproof9. It may have been installed in response to the disastrous fire that destroyed the Porter County County Courthouse in neighboring Valparaiso.
Inside, the rest of the courthouse is jaw-dropping. The courtroom features stained glass windows, oak paneling, and gilded friezes. The original 4,641-pound skylight was restored with laminated glass in 200610.
In 1972, officials purchased a tract of land just northwest of the courthouse to build a new jail and county office complex11. The building, which included an assembly hall and new court facilities, was completed in 1977. Now known as the LaPorte County Complex, the building received a $23 million expansion in 2004.
Infrastructure associated with the LaPorte County Complex swallows up the north side of the courthouse square. Unfortunately, the west side isn’t much better off, thanks to a massive US-35 overpass that begins a mere seventy feet from the building’s walls. Downtown LaPorte has seen enormous changes since its courthouse was built, but the landmark continues to preside over the community like a venerable elder.
There I go anthropomorphizing it again! I can’t help it. The LaPorte County Courthouse has been a favorite for most of my life. It embodies the values and traditions of the town as a symbol of justice, unity, and resilience through the ages.
TL;DR
LaPorte County (pop.111,281, 16/92)
LaPorte (pop. 22,010)
64/92 photographed
Built: 1892
Cost: $328,000 ($8.73 million in 2016)
Architect: Brentwood S. Tolan
Style: Richardson Romanesque
Courthouse Square: Modified Shelbyville Square
Height: 172 feet
Current Use: Courts and county offices
Photographed: 3/19/16
Sources Cited
1 Ross, D. “LaPorte’s courthouse offered live entertainment” The Northwest Indiana Times [Munster]. Lee Enterprises, Inc. December 31, 2016. Web. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
2 Clinton, D. & Tuttle, C. (1875). An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana. R.S. Peale & Co. [Indianapolis]. book.
3 Enyart, David. “LaPorte County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
4 Daniels, E.D. “A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of LaPorte County, Indiana” Lewis Publishing Company [Chicago]. Print. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
5 “Laporte County Courthouse” Indiana Historical Bureau. Indiana.goc. Web. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
6 National Register of Historic Places, Clinton County Courthouse, Frankfort, Clinton County, Indiana, National Register # 83000039
7 (See footnote 6).
8 Ross, Doug “Laporte County Courthouse, Part 2”. YouTube. December 30, 2016. 6:04. Web. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
9 (See footnote 1).
10 (See footnote 1).
11 LaPorte Gets Go-Ahead on Government Site (1972, December 3). The South Bend Tribune. p. 15.
