Vincennes holds the distinction of being the oldest European settlement in Indiana1. Established in 1732, nearly three centuries of history have blessed the city with a diverse collection of architectural treasures! Vincennes is home to grand mansions, historic monuments, and cathedrals, but one of its most prominent landmarks is the Knox County Courthouse.
Vincennes was named after a French officer named Francois Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, who founded a trading post near the confluence of the White and Wabash Rivers. Unfortunately, his role in the settlement was short. In 1736, Vincennes was captured during a French raid against the Chickasaw Nation and burned at the stake. The trading post Vincennes established was later renamed in his honor2.
In 1763, the community came under the control of the British Empire at the end of the French and Indian War. Three years later, the British erected a nearby battlement called Fort Sackville. Inhabitants rallied in alliance with the Americans during the Revolutionary War, and George Rogers Clark and Francis Vigo seized control in 1779. By 1790, Vincennes had transformed into a secure and prosperous community3. In recognition of its significance, the city was named the territorial capital of Indiana in 1805.
Indiana achieved statehood in 1816, but officials relocated the capital to Corydon to establish a centrally-located seat of government. Vincennes retained its prominence as a significant city with locals to be governed, and the first Knox County Courthouse was built in 1813 at the corner of Second and Broadway Streets4.
John Moore constructed the second Knox County Courthouse in 1831. Facing the Wabash River, the $4,000 brick building featured a cupola and measured 34×65 feet. The building served for nearly forty years before the public began clamoring for a new courthouse. Edwin May was hired to draw plans for a brick replacement in 1872, but officials were dissatisfied with what he proposed5. May circled back with another design, and Knox County’s current courthouse was completed in 18766.
Historians often classify May’s Knox County Courthouse as part of the Norman architectural style because three of its four towers resemble those found at the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C7. If that classification holds true, I’m pretty sure it’s Indiana’s only Norman courthouse! A subset of the Romanesque mode that emerged in Normandy and England during the 11th and 12th centuries, Norman architecture is characterized by rounded arches, central bays, and massive proportions.
The Knox County Courthouse shares many of those elements, but I don’t see much resemblance to the gothic Smithsonian castle. The building’s arches and mansard roofs do lend it a distinctly European air., but its eclectic influences and limestone render it essentially Indianan.
Whether it’s Norman, Second Empire, or something else entirely, one thing is clear: the Knox County Courthouse is a far cry from Edwin May’s courthouses in places like Noblesville and Greensburg. Some wonder if his protege, Vienna-trained architect Adolph Scherrer, took over the project after May’s original design was rejected8!
Whoever was responsible for it, the Knox County Courthouse boasts several remarkable features. One is the pair of 21-foot marble tablets situated just above ground level on the building’s northwestern face. The first features a monogram of the United States, and the second depicts a buffalo fleeing the sound of a settler’s axe.
A pair of nine-foot statues rising above the limestone tablets are equally impressive. The first is of an early American soldier standing at parade rest, and the second is a likeness of George Rogers Clark. Both were crafted by artisan Andrew Barrot of Corrona, Italy.
The southwest elevation of the courthouse features a similar likeness of “Justice” said to be modeled after Donati de Bardi’s famous sculpture at the Vatican9. Elsewhere, my eye was drawn upwards to the clock tower. Soaring 147 feet, it edges out St. Francis Xavier Cathedral as the tallest building in downtown Vincennes.
Aside from the courthouse, the most prominent part of Vincennes’ Shelbyville Square is the Knox County Civil War Memorial. The 90-foot obelisk was completed in 1914 for $50,000, and it’s the focal point of the Knox County Veterans Memorial Park. Five bronze figures designed by world-renowned sculptor Rudolph Schwarz adorn the towering monument, restored in 200810.
Three years after the memorial was rehabilitated, the courthouse underwent a makeover that replaced unsound roof decking, swapped its worn-out ceiling tiles with new ones that resembled pressed tin panels, and added period-correct lighting11. Those changes are invisible to passersby or tourists like me, but ensure that the landmark courthouse will remain for generations to come.
I hope it does! The Knox County Courthouse is unlike any other in the state and stands as an embodiment of the area’s rich history. Vincennes is home to a buffet of intriguing sites, but its courthouse best encapsulates centuries of cultural, architectural, and political history.
TL;DR
Knox County (pop. 37,954, 42/92)
Vincennes (pop. 18,069)
81/92 photographed
Built: 1873
Cost: $362,000 ($7.23 million in 2016) 1
Architect: Edwin May & Adolph Scherrer
Style: Second Empire
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 147 feet
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 7/10/2016
Sources Cited
1 Derleth, A. Vincennes: Portal to the West. 1968. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Print.
2 Roy, P. “Sieur de Vincennes Identified”. 1923. Indiana Historical Society Publications. VII. Indianapolis: C. E. Pauley and Company. Print.
3 Allison, Harold. “The Tragic Saga of the Indiana Indians”. 1986. Turner Publishing Company [Paducah]. Print.
4 Hodge, J. “Vincennes in Picture and Story.” 209. Applewood Books [Carlisle]. Print.
5 History of Knox and Daviess Counties Indiana (1886). The Goodspeed Publishing Co. [Chicago]. book.
6 Enyart, David. “Knox County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. 5/5/20.
7 National Register of Historic Places, Vincennes Historic District, Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, National Register # 74000022.
8 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Knox County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved 5/5/20.
9 Greene, G.A. “History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume 1” S.Jh. Clarke Publishiing Company [Chicago]. 1911. Print.
10 Wolf, A. (2009). Knox County Veterans Memorial Park. The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
11 “Indiana courthouse gets makeover, historical touches” WTHR. February 9, 2011. National Broadcasting Corporation [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved 5/5/20.
