John Dillinger’s name is synonymous with the exploits of Depression-era gangsters. Born and bred in the heartland of Indiana, his daring bank robberies captured the country’s imagination! Believe it or not, the majestic Lake County Courthouse witnessed one of Dillinger’s most infamous escapades. Ninety years later, the old building remains one of Indiana’s finest architectural triumphs.
Lake County was established in 1837 from a portion of LaPorte County and, later, from part of Porter County1. In 1838, officials set up shop in a village given the workmanlike title of Lake Court House. Cases were tried in a $500 log cabin for a year until the government relocated to a nearby community known as Liverpool2. A second courthouse was nearly completed there until Lake Court House -by then renamed Crown Point- retook the title!
Liverpool’s unfinished courthouse was floated down the river to become a tavern3. The building in Crown Point appears to have been pressed back in service for a few years, but a new courthouse designed by George Earle was completed in 1850. The $10,000 structure stood off the town square and measured 67×37 feet4.
Lake County’s proximity to Chicago meant significant growth. By 1870, its population had swollen from 3,991 residents to more than 12,000! Officials recognized the need for more commodious quarters and commissioned J.H. Cochrane to design a new courthouse. The monumental structure was completed in 1878 and cost $52,000.
As built, Cochrane’s courthouse was a cruciform structure spanning nine bays. Two-and-a-half stories tall, the east and west faces featured central entrance pavilions with triangular gables. Heavy limestone quoins, horizontal bands, and heavy brackets below the roofline contrasted with the building’s red brick to give it an Italianate appearance. The motif was repeated in the clock tower, which featured a terra-cotta mansard roof that rose 126 feet above downtown Crown Point.
The courthouse was thirty-five years old upon the birth of John Dillinger. Coincidentally or, perhaps, presciently aligning with his later criminal endeavors, it was enlarged in 1909. The expansion saw the addition of two gabled wings to its northern and southern sides. Chicago architects Beers & Beers5 took great care in following the style and scale of Cochrane’s original plans6. Today, you’d never know the 1909 sections weren’t original.
Dillinger was in prison for robbing a grocery store when the Lake County Courthouse underwent its final expansion. In 1928, Crown Point’s Henderlong Lumber Company added another pair of wings to the building’s north and south ends. Like the 1909 additions, the single-story extensions are sympathetic to Cochrane’s original vision7.
That iteration of the courthouse is what John Dillinger saw in his rearview mirror on March 3, 1934. By then, Dillinger’s notoriety had swelled much like the Lake County Courthouse, particularly following a bank robbery and the murder of a policeman two months prior8. Despite being incarcerated in the “escape-proof9” Lake County Jail, he orchestrated a fearless getaway by threatening guards with a wooden gun he claimed was carved with a safety razor10!
After seizing a pair of machine guns and locking the guards in a cell, Dillinger raced towards Chicago in Sheriff Lillian Holley’s new Ford. Unfortunately, the bandit’s interstate flight in a stolen vehicle drew the attention of the FBI. The caper ultimately led to Dillinger’s demise in a shootout four months later.
The old jail Dillinger escaped from still stands just two blocks south of the courthouse he skipped his date with. Unfortunately, neither building serves its original purpose anymore. By 1970, more than half a million people lived in Lake County! The area had grown to feature seven cities and twelve incorporated towns, and new facilities were sorely needed. Officials dedicated the sprawling Lake County Government Center in 1974 and abandoned the “Grand Old Lady11” downtown.
Fortunately, citizens rallied around the magnificent structure, which Ball State professor David Hermanson called “without question, one of the finest architectural expressions in Indiana12.” When I was there, the old courthouse was home to fifteen boutique shops in its basement, the Lake County Historical Society on the main floor, a ballroom on the second story, and a restored courtroom available for weddings, meetings, and performances.
It might lack the notoriety of John Dillinger’s exploits, but the legacy of Crown Point’s Grand Old Lady is a fundamental part of the city’s heritage, identity, and success. Improbably, the magnificent building still presides over a bustling square nearly a hundred and fifty years after it was built! Thanks to its continued use as a community gathering place, the building remains a living testament to Lake County’s past, present, and future.
TL;DR
Lake County (pop.491,456, 2/92)
Crown Point (pop. 28,412)
66/92 photographed
Built: 1878, expanded 1909 and 1928
Cost: $52,000 ($1.29 million in 2016)
Architect: John C. Cochrane
Style: Romanesque/Georgian
Courthouse Square: Harrisonburg Square
Height: 126 feet
Current Use: Non-governmental
Photographed: 3/19/16 and 5/26/20.
Sources Cited
1 Schoon, Kenneth. Calumet Beginnings: Ancient Shorelines and Settlements at the South End of Lake Michigan. Indiana University Press [Indiana]. 2003. Print.
2 Enyart, David. “Lake County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2019. Web. Retrieved August 27, 2019
3 Ball, T.H. (1873). Lake County, Indiana, From 1834 to 1872. J.W. Goodspeed [Chicago]. Book.
4 (See footnote 2).
5 Deacon, J. “Lake County”. American Courthouses. 2008. Web. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
6 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Lake County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
7 National Register of Historic Places, Crown Point Courthouse Square Historic District, Crown Point, Lake County, Indiana, National Register #04000203.
8 Webster, Nancy Coltun. “Dillinger jail escape among area’s most brazen incidents” The Chicago Tribune [Chicago]. February 26, 2016. Web. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
9 “John Dillinger” Famous Cases and Criminals. FBI. United States Department of Justice [2019] Web. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
10 (See footnote 8).
11 Potempa, P. (2016, September 13). Lake County Court House, the ‘Grand Old Lady’ of Crown Point. The Chicago Tribune. Web. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
12 (See footnote 11).
