Read time: 6 min.

My love of old courthouses blossomed during long car rides over the holidays. I found something to like about each one that we passed, but clock towers were my favorite. They felt like friends greeting us as we reached our destination, then bidding us goodbye as we went home! The Daviess County Courthouse doesn’t feature a soaring tower, but it still dominates downtown Washington. I would have loved to see it as a kid.

Daviess County was authorized in 1818 and took its present boundaries two years later. Named for Major Joseph Hamilton Daviess¹, the area’s first settlements like Liverpool were along the White River. Early courts were held at the home of Alexander Bruce, and possibly at a log Presbyterian Church until 1825². 

A larger community, Washington, was founded next to Liverpool in 1818³. It didn’t take long for the town to inhale its predecessor⁴, and the first permanent county courthouse was built in Washington in 1824. The two-story brick structure measured 35×45 feet. Remarkably, it took seven years to complete⁵!

A committee convened in 1835 found that Daviess County’s first brick courthouse was substandard in nearly every way. Bids for a new structure were advertised, but nobody bit until officials borrowed $1,500 to help pay for it. Along with Lewis Jones, Whitehead & Berry finally completed the county’s second courthouse in 1838⁶. It lasted for more than forty years.

I’m a little miffed I missed Daviess County’s next courthouse. Designed by George Bunting⁷, the two-and-a-half-story brick structure was built in 1879. The building featured a limestone water table, pyramidal corner turrets, and a mansard roof, but its crowning decoration was a central tower with a spire and weathervane. Fire insurance maps said it rose about 100 feet above the square⁸.

I bet it was taller. Indianapolis-born Bunting eventually designed eight courthouses in Indiana and wasn’t one to mess around. His buildings in Frankfort and Anderson reached 165 feet! I’m sure Daviess came close to that height, but we can’t measure it today. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the landmark in 1927⁹. 

The blaze was substantial enough to call for departments from Loogootee, Vincennes, and Montgomery to assist Washington’s overextended brigade. At first, faulty wiring or pigeon roosts were thought to have caused the conflagration¹⁰. Whatever the reason, nothing but the building’s walls remained after the after the flames were finally extinguished¹¹. 

Officials chose architects Sutton & Routt of Vincennes to design a neoclassical replacement that emphasized simplicity and mass¹² in the prevailing style of the day. Although it might look like most of its peers at first glance, the fourth Daviess County Courthouses rises above them- literally. It’s located on an elevated square, which adds significant height to the 2.5-story building. 

Completed in 1929, the courthouse measures a sprawling 80×124 feet and tops out at 62 feet tall. The building features a flat parapet that hides a brick penthouse, a limestone chimney, a glass skylight, and a copper enclosure that houses the bell from the previous courthouse. 

The building rises from a half-story raised basement separated from its main floors by a limestone water table. Each side of the courthouse features a central pavilion with a parapet that houses a central clock. Unfortunately, each face appears cloudy like the waterlogged backup camera on my stepdad’s Hyundai Elantra. 

Facing south, a wide pavilion with six freestanding columns contrasts with the squarish pilasters of most of its contemporaries. Each capital features a phoenix, no doubt a reference to the building rising from the ashes of its predecessor. The columns support a long pediment with rectangular shoulders¹³.  

The size and unique design of the courthouse are enough to separate it from Indiana’s other late-era Neoclassical courthouses, but what really struck me was its location on the courthouse lawn. A half-circle walkway meets at the building’s stairs, enveloping a massive American Civil War Memorial.

Daviess County supplied more than 2,000 soldiers to keep the union together, and it’s only proper for their memories to be preserved in front of the county’s most important building. With three lively statues, a monumental stairway, lanterns, and several inscriptions, the memorial is a poignant tribute. 

As a kid traveling to far-off cities during holidays, I cherished the landmarks that signaled our arrival. The height of the Daviess County Courthouse meant I may not have spotted it from a distance, but its grand size, distinct location, and imposing monument would have captured my imagination had I encountered it back then! Indiana features a sea of Neoclassical courthouses in places like Carroll, Jay, Pike, Spencer, and Sullivan Counties. They’re all great in their own way, but Daviess County’s is my favorite. 

TL;DR
Daviess County (pop. 32,407, 54/92)
Washington (pop. 11,887)
Built: 1929
83.92 photographed
Cost: $317,136 ($4.44 million in 2016)
Architect: Sutton & Routt
Style: Neoclassical
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 2.5 stories
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 7/10/2016

Sources Cited
1 Gannett, H. (1905). The Origin of oCertain Place Names in the United States. Government Printing Office [Washington, D.C.]. Book.
2 Enyart. 
3 Hellman, P.T. (2006). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge [Milton Park]. Book. 
4 (See footnote 2). 
5 History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana (1891). Goodspeed Publishing Company [Chicago]. Book. 
6 (See footnote 5). 
7 National Register of Historic Places, Greene County Courthouse, Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana, National Register #08000912.
8 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Washington, Daviess County, Indiana. (1909) Sanborn Map Company, Sep. Map.
9 National Register of Historic Places, Daviess County Courthouse, Washington, Daviess County, Indiana, National Register #08000916.
10 Heavy Damage In Washington Fires (1927, August 25). The Indianapolis News. p. 1. 
11 $500,000 Loss In 2 Washington Fires (1927, August 25). The Princeton Clarion-News. P. 1. 
12 Counts, Will; Jon Dilts (1991). The 92 Magnificent Indiana Courthouses. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. Print.
13 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Daviess County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved April 21, 2019.