My trip to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, brought something I’d never seen before or since on a courthouse lawn: a grave marker. “1000 feet east- site of Fort Ferree,” a sign somberly claims, “Main headquarters of Gen. Wm. H. Harrison’s army in The War of 1812. Many of his soldiers who died in battle are buried in this courthouse yard1.” I had no idea at the time, but both the city and the courthouse that crowns it have intriguing histories.
Upper Sandusky was founded in 1843 and named after a previous Wyandot settlement that sat near the river. Not far away was Fort Ferree, as the sign on the courthouse lawn states, during the War of 1812. The fort was one of many small battlements built as storage facilities during the early days of our country’s history. It was intended to serve as a depot to help move artillery and supplies westward.
Most of those early forts were abandoned after the War of 1812, but one of Ferree’s blockhouses served as the first Wyandot County jail until 1850 or so2. The old Wyandot Indian Council House, initially built in 1830, served as the first county courthouse. In 1845, officials awarded William Young $7,000 to build a new courthouse. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
Instead of doing the job himself, Young reassigned his assignment to his guarantors, who subcontracted the building’s construction to workers named Kennedy and Jenkins. Unfortunately, the duo was in over their heads. Three years after the first batch of paperwork was delivered, Wyandot County still lacked a proper courthouse! Commissioners entered into another agreement and paid John Jenkins $9,800 to finish the building, less what the other builders had already been paid.
Jenkins managed to come through and delivered a two-story, Greek Revival courthouse to the county in 18493, a year after Upper Sandusky was officially named county seat. According to legend, the town’s incorporation led to a great deal of ill will amongst its residents.
There were about five hundred people in town back then, half of which “held up their hands in holy horror4” over an oppressive $10 tax meant to ensure that the courthouse bell would ring every night so its constituents would know when to go to sleep! Unfortunately, it’s’ just a story. The courthouse hadn’t been finished yet, so there was no bell to peal at 9:00 each night. Still, it’s a funny piece of local lore.
Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County had grown to about 3,300 and 21,000 people by 1900 when the present courthouse was dedicated. Designed by Yost & Packard, the building is capped by a forty-foot dome5. It towers over a downtown where the next-tallest buildings are a three-story Oddfellows’ Lodge and the old county jail.
The courthouse, a two-story structure made of buff-colored stone, steel, and concrete, faces west and is situated on the landscaped grounds in the center of town. Its standout feature is its central cupola, but the flat roof is also crowned with white domes at its corners, each topped with a statue of Lady Justice.
Arched entrances on the north and west sides are adorned with protruding pediments supported by fluted columns with Corinthian capitals. At least from the outside, the courthouse has a twin in Fairmont, West Virginia.
The main floor of the building is dominated by a grand marble staircase with fifty-two steps, flanked by brass griffins at the base of the handrails. The marble used for the floor was carved in Rutland, Vermont, while the pink marble tile and wainscoting were sourced from a quarry in western Tennessee.
Although the courthouse’s rotunda is an architectural marvel, the true centerpiece is the courtroom. Here, four frescoes by William G. Andrews—”The Burning of Crawford,” “Captives,” “Battle of Battle Island,” and “The Journey of the Moravian Indians”—command attention from the arches above its walls6. The building’s paintings were meticulously restored by hand in 1999, and new murals were added to the courthouse rotunda that depict the four seasons within the context of farming7.
The Wyandot County Courthouse is a remarkable structure, made even more poignant by its historical significance. During its construction in the 1890s, workers uncovered bones, buttons, and leather rosettes8, which adds a somber layer of historical resonance to the courthouse site. The relics serve as a reminder of the area’s role in one of the early conflicts that shaped the nation, even as the courthouse stands as testament to the community’s continued history.
TL;DR
Wyandot County (pop. 22,000, 82/88)
Upper Sandusky (pop. 6,696).
Built: 1900
Cost: $140,372.44 ($7.4 million today)
Architect: Joseph W. Yost and Frank Packard
Style: Beaux Arts
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville Square
Height: 2.5 stories
Current use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 11/2/19
Sources Cited
1 “Wyandot County Courthouse” The Supreme Court of Ohio & The Ohio Judicial System. The Supreme Court of Ohio [Columbus]. Web. Retrieved 6/6/21.
2 “Upper Sandusky” Touring Ohio. Ohio City Productions, Inc [Upper Arlington]. Web. Retrieved 6/6/21.
3 Baughman, Abraham J. “Past and Present of Wyandot County, Ohio” Clarke Publishing Company [Chicago]. 1913. Print.
4 “The History of Wyandot County, Ohio” Leggett, Conaway, & Company [Chicago]. 1884. Print.
5 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Upper Sandusky, Wyandot County, Ohio (1921). Sanborn Map Company, Apr. [Map]. Web .Retrieved September 2, 2024.
6 Thrane, Susan W., Patterson, B., & Patterson, T. “County Courthouses of Ohio” Indiana University Press [Bloomington]. November 1, 2000. Print.
7 Marvin, Ronald I. “A Brief History of Wyandot County, Ohio” Arcadia Publishing [Mount Pleasant]. 2015. Print.
8 Baker, H.S. (n.d.). Fort Ferree – Upper Sandusky. The Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Ohio. Web. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
