Read time: 5 min.

It took me four years of on-and-off adventures to visit all of Indiana’s historic courthouses. I thought I’d satisfied my curiosity, but then I realized Ohio had its own treasures waiting! So far, I’ve traveled to about half of them, and one of my favorites is Henry County’s in the small city of Napoleon. Perched above the heart of downtown, it commands the skyline like few others I’ve seen.

Created in 1820 and officially organized fourteen years later, Henry County takes its name from founding father Patrick Henry. Its county seat, Napoleon, was named after the French emperor. Both places were once part of an area known as the Great Black Swamp, which was opened to non-native settlement after the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. 

Henry County’s first courthouse was a log cabin built in 1832. Two years later, George Stout built a two-story tavern whose dining room served as the county’s second courtroom. Later, Stout added a room to the rear to accommodate other county offices¹. The tavern and its addition served the county for a full decade, until a frame, two-story courthouse was built for $2000. Unfortunately, it burned down in 1847. 

Henry County went without a proper courthouse until 1850, when a contract was let for a combined courthouse and jail that measured 40 x 60 feet, as well as a 20 x 60 foot fireproof county office². Unfortunately, like its predecessor, the second official courthouse also fell victim to an 1879 fire that destroyed twenty-one other buildings³. 

Officials hired architect David W. Gibbs to design Henry County’s next courthouse in 1880. A prolific architect, Gibbs was also responsible for courthouses in Marion, Marysville, and Washington Court House, Ohio; along with their counterparts in Charlotte and Ionia, Michigan. Despite the grandeur of his county buildings, though, Gibbs’ crowning architectural achievement was the 146-foot-tall Wyoming State Capitol completed in 1917.

Shortly after he finished his midwestern courthouses, he moved to an unsettled part of Indian territory during the Oklahoma Land Run. One of 10,000 homesteaders to settle in modern-day Oklahoma City, Gibbs established a well-known ice cream parlor. Eventually, he was made chairman of the board that organized Oklahoma City’s first election in 1890. Today, he’s recognized as the city’s fourth mayor!

Gibbs was a busy man. So much so, in fact, that he tended to economize his architectural practice by reusing his designs. Aside from its materials, the Henry County Courthouse was nearly identical to Union County’s. Facing southwest on a hill at the corner of Perry and Washington Streets, the brick, Second Empire building features heavy Berea sandstone trim. 

The west and north fronts feature small, first-story porches supported by four slender columns. Each is topped by a second-story balcony. A central projecting section ascends to a pediment on the third story. Square towers crowned with steep mansard roofs stand at each corner of the building, but its key feature is a white clock tower that rises 150 feet above downtown Napoleon. A statue of “Lady Justice” stands at the very top⁴. 

Although the courthouse appears untouched from the outside, it’s undergone some changes over the last 142 years. In 1954, Toledo architects Hahn & Hayes renovated the interior of the building. A rear entrance was altered a decade later. The entire building was renovated in 1972, then restored in 1998 by Gaede, Serne Architects⁵. 

Although the Henry County Courthouse is nearly identical to its twin in Marysville, it manages to stand apart thanks to several key details. Its striking red brick façade immediately catches the eye, it commands attention from all angles, and it remains unburdened by modern additions awkwardly tacked onto its side, preserving its original silhouette.

Of all the Victorian-era courthouses I’ve visited, the Henry County Courthouse seems among the closest to how it must have appeared when it was brand new. Its minimal changes and lack of obvious alterations allow it to retain a sense of authenticity, which offers a rare glimpse into the architectural and civic pride of its era. It stands not just as a building, but as a testament to the care taken in preserving its integrity.

I try to cram as many courthouses as I can into my trips to visit them. I approached Napoleon from the southwest, driving in from Defiance. As I exited the highway, I was surprised to see the courthouse’s clock tower rising above the trees from nearly a mile and a half away! That distance isn’t remarkable on its own, but the topography and winding roads in most towns often make it difficult to catch sight of a courthouse from so far out. The height of the clock tower gave a sense of scale and importance to the small town ahead and hinted at the history that awaited within its heart.

TL;DR
Henry County (pop. 27,514, 77/88)
Napoleon (pop. 8,750)
Built: 1882
Cost: $95,000 (about $2.9 million today)
Architect: D.W. Gibbs
Style: Second Empire
Courthouse Square: Shelbyville
Height: 150 feet
Current Use: County offices and courts
Photographed: 4/1/2018

Sources Cited
1 Aldrich, L.C. (1888). History of Henry and Fulton Counties, Ohio. D. Mason & Co. [Syracuse]. Book. \
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Courthouse (n.d.) Henry County Ohio [Napoleon]. Web. Retriebved December 25, 2024. 
4 “Lady Justice” returns to her spot atop Henry County Courthouse. WTOL11 [Toledo]. Web. Retrieved December 25, 2024. 
5 Deacon, J. “Henry County”. American Courthouses. 2008. Web. Retrieved December 24, 2024.