Read time: 6 min.

Working on behalf of the Allen County Public Library’s Genealogy Center, researcher David Enyart identified seven simple categories Indiana’s historic courthouses fall into. From log to frame, brick, “coffee mill,” “stylized,” “castle,” and modern, Indiana’s still home to at least one of each! The frame Whitley County Courthouse in Columbia City led me on a wild goose chase, but I eventually found it.

Whitley County was first part of Huntington County until it was subdivided in 1835. The home of Richard Baughan served as the county courthouse by 1839 when Joseph Pierce was indicted for retailing without a license and fined $2.00¹. A proper county seat, Columbia, was formed later in the year, and courts were held at David Long’s hotel and the home of Abraham Cuppy. 

The first courthouse was a simple two-story wooden structure measuring 36×18 feet. It was completed in 1841². That building, which also served as Columbia City’s first schoolhouse³, stood at the west side of the courthouse square until 1850, when it was purchased and moved away. I learned it still existed when David Enyart mentioned that it “still stands as an inhabited house⁴.” 

Elsewhere, Enyart mentioned that “the only known survivor of [the frame] type is in Whitley County where their 1841 courthouse was moved from the town square when it was replaced and is now a private residence⁵.” Unfortunately, that’s not a lot to go by. There are a lot of private residences in Columbia City -3,944 housing units as of 2010⁶! 

I couldn’t knock on every door or perform an endless search of the county assessor’s database, so I found a history book, Whitley County and Its Families. The book shed little light on the matter, but it’s where I learned that the courthouse had also served as a school. It was an interesting tidbit, but ultimately unhelpful.

A second book, Kaler and Marine’s 1907 History of Whitley County, Indiana brought the goods. It called the old courthouse “the old frame still standing at the corner of Van Buren and Whitley streets⁷.” I finally had a lead! As it turns out, the courthouse was sold to Sylvester Knapp for $35.25 on December 9, 1853, with the understanding that he’d move it away to make room for the next courthouse⁸. 

I got on Google Maps to inspect the intersection of Van Buren and Whitley Streets. An old hospital sat on the northwest side, and a house on the southeast corner didn’t match the dimensions of the courthouse. The houses at the other two corners looked like strong contenders, and I even made a trip to town to investigate! Unfortunately, the dates and measurements didn’t match up. I was skunked. 

I went back to Columbia City a few weeks after my first trip to take more photos of each of the buildings. I even emailed the local historical society, but they never responded. Meanwhile, I started looking at old Sanborn fire insurance maps of Columbia City. The 1886 edition showed four buildings just as today, with minor differences. The 1890 map showed the same situation, as did the 1897 version. 

I kept progressing through the available maps and stumbled across something unexpected when I got to 1910. The house at the southwest corner had been rotated and moved a block south⁹! I’d taken photos of the wrong buildings. The real courthouse, I believed, had been moved sometime between 1897 and 1910. None of the buildings I’d photographed were the right structure, and I resolved to go back to Columbia City as soon as possible. 

Before I could, I received a call from an unfamiliar number in the Whitley County area code. I answered and was greeted by a volunteer with the local historical society. She confirmed that, yes, the house just south of the corner was the old courthouse, that it was being used as a duplex, and that it featured a modern, exterior staircase. She said that the society had additional documentation and even a photo of the building in use as the courthouse. Unfortunately, I’ve never made it up to see it. 

I did go back to take photos of the twice-moved 1841 courthouse. You’d hardly believe it was once such a prominent building! Its use as a dwelling makes it hard to get a good photo. Nevertheless, I think this is the first post on the entire internet to positively identify the home at 108 South Whitley Street as the 1841 Whitley County Courthouse. 

Numerous additions, moves, and changes to the courthouse undoubtedly lead to some compelling “Ship of Theseus” arguments. A 2018 Zillow listing doesn’t say anything about it being a former courthouse, but its status is no less plausible than a children’s playhouse, a set of crumbling ruins, and a former township school. Regardless of its appearance today, Indiana’s only remaining frame courthouse is an important part of the state’s history. I wish it was recognized as such.

TL;DR
Whitley County (pop. 33,292)
Columbia City (pop. 8,750)
Built: 1841. Moved 1853 and circa 1900.
Cost: $411.50 ($10,336 million in 2016).
Architect: Richard Baughan
Style: Wood frame
Courthouse Square: No square
Height: 2 stories
Current Use: Dwelling
Photographed: 6/30/18

Sources Cited
1 Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana. Baskin, Forster & Co [Chicago]. 1876. Print.
2 Enyart, David. “Whitley County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. 4/21/20.
3 Whitley County and Its Families, 1835-1995. Whitley County Historical Society. Turner Publications [Nashville]. 1995. Print.
4 (See footnote 2).
5 Enyart, David. “Types of Courthouses” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2018. Web. Retrieved 5/21/20.
6 “Population and Housing Unit Estimates”. United States Census Bureau [Washington, D.C.] 2010. Web. Retrieved 5/21/20.
7 Kaler, S. & Maring, R. “History of Whitley County, Indiana. B.F. Bowen & Company [Indianapolis]. 1907. Print.
8 (See footnote 7).
9 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map- Columbia City, Indiana. 1910. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company. Indiana University Libraries. Web. Retrieved 5/21/20.