Crawford County, Indiana, is remote. According to the census, only 10,000 people live there. None of its four incorporated towns reach a population of 1,000, and English is by far the state’s smallest county seat. Out of 92 counties, Crawford ranks 88th in population density, 90th in per capita income, and 89th in median household income. Formed in 18181, officials first established Mount Sterling as the county seat.
Crawford County has an intriguing relationship with water. Two of the area’s biggest draws, Marengo and Wyandotte Caves, were carved out of limestone during the Pliocene era2. Much later, the Patoka River was dammed by the US Army Corps of Engineers to create the 8,800-acre Patoka Lake reservoir3. At the county’s southern border, the towns of Alton and Leavenworth provide recreational access to the Ohio River.
Unfortunately, Crawford County’s interactions with water haven’t always been positive. After William Hart and David Miller built the county’s first frame courthouse, early settlers struggled to find a safe supply in Mount Sterling4. Officials relocated operations twice before settling in the town of English in 1895. The community sat at the confluence of the Camp Fork, Bird Hollow, and Brownstown Creeks converge to form the Little Blue River. Officials slapped together a modern courthouse, albeit one without water, plumbing, or heat5.
Moving the seat to English caused English’s population to climb, and the town reached an all-time high of 839 in 1950. The courthouse was on its last legs by then, so a humble replacement was erected in 1958. Unfortunately, a hundred-year flood came the year after the courthouse was built. Five years later, it happened again.
After fifteen years of relative peace, another flood in 1979 sent thirteen feet of water cascading down Main Street, which ruined all 30,000 books in the public library6. After another flood in 1990 smothered the business district with seven feet of water, officials finally came to a conclusion: they’d simply move the town7!
The project took $20 million and nearly a decade, but by 1999, most of “Old” English had been reestablished. “New” English sat a mile northeast of, and 265 feet higher than8, the original community. Among the first buildings were a new post office, a new bank, and the new Crawford County Public Library. The 1958 courthouse remained on a hill south of the old downtown even as the rest of Old English was demolished and turned into a golf course.
It was only a matter of time before officials abandoned their modest courthouse for a larger structure closer to New English. Indianapolis architects ShenckelShultz, known for designing schools and jails, were tasked with creating the new plans. Positioned west of the town on State Road 64, their final design stayed faithful to the essence of the old courthouse.
The 2003 Crawford County Courthouse -officially, the Crawford County Judicial Complex- is a single-story, brick, V-shaped structure with most county offices in its east wing and jail facilities in the west. At the building’s elbow, an arched entry pavilion adorned with two rectangular lanterns represents its only ornamentation and provides access to a recessed entryway. Narrow windows on each wing flank the entrance. Contractors for the building included the Krempp Lumber Company, J.E. Shekell, Inc., and the Mel-Kay Electric Company9.
The courthouse sits about 450 feet from the highway on the looping Strawberry Lane. A Crawford County Veterans Memorial -dedicated in 2017 about two weeks before I visited10– sits closer to the road. Funded entirely by donations, the memorial features seven flags and eight jet-black granite markers in a cement-and-brick-paved plaza.
For all the embellishments that the new courthouse lacks, the memorial in front of it is impressive! Less so is the metal-sided former Dollar General next door that acts as the county annex but hey- you can’t win them all.
Central to the veteran’s memorial is a granite statue of an eagle. Head held proud and high, it seems to be looking towards a greater future. For a bleak and lonesome county with a seat that’s moved five times across six courthouses, it’s a fitting tribute.
Although the community’s governmental facilities may lag behind those of our more prosperous counties, the 2003 Crawford County Courthouse, jail, and memorial plaza are all light years ahead of the structures that preceded them. Hopefully residents of New English are proud of what they’ve got, and look to that landmark eagle with certainty that they’ll finally be safe from the floodwaters. Now let’s just hope the water supply doesn’t dry up like it did in Mount Sterling.
TL;DR
Crawford County (pop. 10,621, 86/92)
English ( pop. 642)
77/92 photographed
Built: 2003
Cost: Unknown
Architect: ShenckelShultz
Style: Modern
Courthouse Square: No square
Height: 1 story
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed 11/23/17
Sources Cited
1 Pleasant, H.H. (1926). A History of Crawford County, Indiana. The Arthur H. Clark Company [Glendale]. Book.
2 “Marengo Cave” National Natural Landmarks. National Park Service. 2019. Web. Retrieved 10/12/19.
3 “Patoka Lake” Lakes. US Army Corps of Engineers. 2019. Web. Retrieved 10/12/19.
4 Enyart, David. “Crawford County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved 10/12/2019.
5 Indiana Landmarks (2013). Crawford County. Indianapolis. Indiana Landmarks. Web. Retrieved 10/12/19.
6 “English gets help in flood clean-up” The Daily Journal [Franklin]. August 7, 1979. 3. Print.
7 “English residents unsold on move to high ground” The Indianapolis News [Indianapolis]. July 18, 1990. 45. Print.
8 “Moving along” The Republic [Columbus]. November 29, 1999. 2. Print.
9 Deacon, J. “Edgar County”. American Courthouses. 2008. Web. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
10 “Veterans memorial dedicated in Crawford County, Ind.” WHAS11. ABC. November 11, 2017. Web. Retrieved 10/12/2019.
My grandfather, Lowell Lester Mayes, was born in English in 1899.
Looks like a really nice place to walk!