St. Joseph County, Indiana, boasts an impressive array of historic courthouses. Built in 1854, the oldest is one of Indiana’s few left from the days before the Civil War. The second is an impressive skyscraper done up in the International style so popular in the 1960s. Sandwiched between is the grandest of all, a Beaux-Arts landmark completed in 1896.
St. Joseph County was formed in 1830. It took its name from the St. Joseph River, which flows through the area on its way to Lake Michigan. Residents were immediately dissatisfied with the site on the “portage of the St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers1,” so officials met at the nearby home of Alexis Coquillard until 1831.
That year, more than a hundred residents petitioned the government to permanently move things to South Bend. Commissioners hired Peter Johnson to build a permanent courthouse, and his hipped-roof, two-story courthouse with a triple-tiered spire was completed for $3,000 in 18332. Five years later, a 20×40 foot addition with offices for the county clerk and recorder was added.
Today’s “old” St. Joseph County Courthouse was built in 1854, just as South Bend’s economy began expanding. The Greek Revival building served admirably and was even remodeled to the prevailing Victorian aesthetic3, but St. Joseph County had swollen by more than 40,000 people by the 1890s. Commissioners wanted a new courthouse to reflect South Bend’s rising stature.
Unfortunately, there was a problem: the 1854 courthouse stood in the way of where they wanted to build! In a bold move, project leaders lifted the old courthouse into the air and placed it on logs. With the assistance of a team of mules, they rotated the courthouse 180 degrees and moved it to the opposite side of the square4! Construction on the new courthouse began in the fall of 1896.
The emerging Beaux Arts movement influenced Chicago architects Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge. Popularized by the 1894 World’s Columbian Exposition (also called the Chicago World’s Fair or the “White City”), Beaux Arts emphasized grandiosity, symmetry, and classical motifs. By the time it was completed in 1896, the St. Joseph County Courthouse was starkly different from the elaborate roofs and medieval-inspired towers of the Second Empire and Richardson Romanesque styles many of its peers employed.
Constructed of limestone above a granite foundation, the courthouse stands two stories tall atop a raised basement. The building was tall enough to make me fear it might topple over on me if I got too close, but its height is most apparent in the ninety-six-foot tile dome at the center of its cruciform plan5. Four large pediments supported by rectangular pilasters define each point of the cross, and the eastern gable frames a clock surrounded by ornamental carvings.
The St. Joseph County Courthouse would fit in next to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, one of few architectural reminders of the Columbian Exposition6. Unfortunately, its beauty wasn’t enough to prevent commissioners from contemplating a unified building to hold combined city and county offices as early as 19267. Officials finally got their wish in 1965, when plans for a 14-story County-City Building and jail were revealed7.
Other communities like Cass, Delaware, or Floyd Counties demolished their old courthouses when the opportunity to build anew came knocking. Thankfully, St. Joseph County was different in the years before The Associates’ Super Block gutted much of downtown8. Relocating the 1854 courthouse had been an enormous undertaking, but the structure was crucial to preserving South Bend’s historic fabric. Thankfully, history repeated itself! The County-City Building project included a million dollars to rehabilitate the 1896 courthouse.
Though most of the exterior would remain the same, the building’s guts had to change substantially to keep up with the county’s demands. In fact, officials hoped the renovated courthouse could serve for thirty more years before its usefulness was outlived9. The project paused until the first nine floors of the County-City Building were ready in 1969. The courts were temporarily relocated that year when construction began, but the old building needed substantial work.
Aside from reconfiguring and restoring parts of the building’s layout, a couple problems delayed the construction process. For starters, contractors discovered that the second story of the courthouse needed a new floor. Unfortunately, that was a problem. The project was meant to keep as much of the courtrooms’ decorations intact, but the rebuild meant that only the back benches and moldings in each could be retained. Restoring the fixed furnishings would have cost twice as much as replacing them.
Despite the issues, the redesigned courthouse was a knock-out when it reopened in 1971. While the newspaper declared that the renovations gave the building a “stately air,” eye-catching choices in carpets led residents to describe it in terms ranging from “gaudy” to “early bordello10!”
Once the building was back up and running, its thirty-years-of-utility clock started ticking. Fortunately, the very structure the building displaced more than a hundred years earlier came to its rescue. In 1998, the 1954 courthouse was renovated in a $4.7 million project that allowed it to take over court duty for traffic and misdemeanor offenses11.
Today, the 1854 and 1896 courthouses still administer justice to nearly 300,000 residents of St. Joseph County. By adapting the buildings to meet contemporary needs, St. Joseph County ensured that they remain vibrant hubs of activity and engagement for years to come. Other changes were destructive, but preserving and celebrating its landmark courthouses is essential to maintaining the character and heritage of downtown South Bend.
TL;DR
St.Joseph County (pop.363,014, 5/92)
South Bend (pop. 101,860)
63/92 photographed
Built: 1898, renovated 1971
Cost: $250,000 ($7.18 million in 2016)
Architect: Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge
Style: Neoclassical
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 96 feet
Current Use: Some county courts
Photographed: 3/19/16
Sources Cited
1 Enyart, David. “St. Joseph County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved 9/18/19.
2 “History of St. Joseph County, Indiana.” Chas. C. Chapman & Co [Chicago]. 1880. Print.
3 “Courthouse’ The South Bend Tribune [South Bend]. August 11, 2000. 9. Print.
4 “HISTORICAL TIMELINE”. Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. 2006. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
5 Indiana Landmarks (2013). St. Joseph County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved 9/28/19.
6 World Columbian Exposition, 1893: official catalogue (1893). Part X. Department K. Fine arts. W.B. Conley [Chicago]. Brochure.
7 “Groundbreaking Ceremony Held” The South Bend Tribune [South Bend]. May 6, 1967. 1. Print.
8 Fosmoe, M. (2017, April 24). Never built South Bend: What downtown could have looked like. The South Bend Tribune. Web. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
9 “Courthouse Work Could Be Delayed” The South Bend Tribune [South Bend]. April 19, 1970. 95. Print.
10 “Renovation Gives Courthouse Stately Air” The South Bend Tribune [South Bend]. Holy 24, 1971. Print.
11 “Old Courthouse renovations nearly done” The South Bend Tribune [South Bend]. August 11, 2000. 8. Print.
