Read time: 6 min.

I’ve visited nearly two-hundred courthouses across the Midwest, and nearly every historic one has been altered in some way to keep it functional in the modern world. Some of the renovations have been downright egregious! My favorites are the ones where the changes are so seamless you’d never know they happened, and one of the best examples is the Logan County Courthouse in Bellefontaine, Ohio. I had no idea its roof and clock tower had been replaced a few years before I visited!

Logan County was founded in 1818 and named after Benjamin Logan, a colonel in the Kentucky County, Virginia, militia during the American Revolutionary War. Bellefontaine, a city whose name means “beautiful spring” in French¹, was soon named the county seat. Today, most locals pronounce its name “Bell Fountain².”

Early officials clamored for governmental facilities. In 1820, they entered into an agreement with John Casebolt, who was to build a courthouse in conjunction with a new jail for $860. Two months later, the deal fell through. A new contract was issued to John Willis for $1,300, but it, too, was abandoned. Finally, officials convinced William Laften to erect a frame, two-story courthouse on a stone foundation for $1,294³.  

The first courthouse didn’t last long. In 1825, it was sold to Solomon McColloch for $810. McCulloch moved the building to a separate lot, where he operated it as the old Union Hotel⁴. Six years later, William Bull completed a two-story brick structure that became Logan County’s first permanent courthouse and second overall⁵. Two brick office buildings north and south of the structure were completed in 1833, but all three had outlasted their initial usefulness by 1870. 

Officials chose Alexander Koehler of Cleveland to design the third Logan County Courthouse. Koehler, a German native, settled in Ohio during the Civil War and generally employed Gothic and Second Empire motifs in his works. Aside from his Logan County Courthouse, his other prominent buildings include the Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Sandusky, Immaculate Conception Church, and New Philadelphia’s Central School⁶.

Koehler’s courthouse cost $105,398 and was built using locally-mined sandstone⁷. “Considerable good humored criticism has been passed upon the architectural style of the present building,” a contemporary history wrote, “but it proves a commodious and comfortable place for the offices and Courts of the county⁸.” 

That history was being modest. The Logan County Courthouse is a striking building! Facing west, it stands two stories with a mansard roof. The primary facade features three bays, including a projecting entrance pediment that extends to the full height of the building. A thin, galvanized iron tower that rises 150 feet⁹ stands atop the building, while an eleven-foot zinc statue of Lady Justice stands within a niche just below. The building dominates downtown Bellefontaine, where the next tallest building is David Gibbs’ three-story Opera Block¹⁰. 

The courthouse and the Opera Block are separated by Court Avenue. Like most of Bellefontaine’s early streets, Court Avenue was first established as a dirt road. That changed shortly after an inventor named George Bartholomew moved to town In 1886¹¹. After scouting suitable sources of limestone and clay in the area, Bartholomew founded the Buckeye Portland Cement Company and sought a location to test his artificial stone.

In 1891, he convinced Bellefontaine’s city council to allow him to pave a test section of Main Street with cement. The pavement endured, and Court Avenue became the first street in America to be paved with concrete in 1893¹². Bartholomew ultimately paved all four streets encircling the courthouse- Main, Opera, Columbus, and Court. Remarkably, Court Avenue needed just $1,400 in maintenance over its first fifty years before reconstruction became necessary in the 1960s¹³.

Likewise, the Logan County Courthouse remained sturdy for decades until the 2010s when it, too, required significant repairs. In 2021, a derecho with hurricane-force winds destroyed the building’s clock tower. As officials inspected the damage, they found other major structural issues with the courthouse’s roof¹⁴. 

Instead of demolishing the historic structure, the discovery led commissioners to kick off an $8 million renovation that replaced the roof and removed, recreated, and reinstalled a new clock tower. Midstate Contractors of nearby Marion rebuilt the clock tower in four pieces and replaced the roof in three¹⁵. The final portion of the tower -its slim, mansard dome- was lifted into place by a 223-foot crane on November 10, 2015¹⁶. 

I’ve visited and written about countless old courthouses, and I like to think I have a decent eye for spotting renovations. Still, I never guessed that the roof and clock tower of the Logan County Courthouse were essentially brand-new as I stood beneath it. The craftsmanship is so seamless that it honors the building’s original character while still ensuring its future. Overall, the 150-year-old landmark is a perfect example of how historic preservation, when done right, can make a structure feel timeless.

TL;DR
Logan County (pop. 46,052, 52/88)
Bellefontaine (pop. 14,073)
Built: 1871
Cost: $105,398
Architect: Alexander Koehler
Style: Second Empire
Courthouse Square: Lancaster Square
Height: 150 feet
Current Use: County courts and offices
Photographed: 11/2/19

Sources Cited
1 3 Fun Facts About Bellefontaine (n.d.). Downtown Bellefontaine [Bellefontaine]. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
2 Bean, S. (2022, July 19). Most mispronounced names in Ohio and how to say them. Fox 8 [Cleveland]. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
3 History of Logan County and Ohio (1880). O.L. Baskin & Co. [Chicago]. Book. 
4 (See footnote 2). 
5 Deacon, J. “Logan County”. American Courthouses. 2008. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
6 Alexander Koehler (n.d.). Cleveland Architects. Cleveland Landmarks Commission. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
7 Logan County History (n.d.). Archived by WaybackMachine. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
8 (See footnote 2).
9 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio [[1896). Sanborn Map Company. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
10 History (n.d.). The Historic Opera Block [Bellefontaine]. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
11 Snell, L. & Snell, B. (2002, March). Concrete International. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
12 Cracked street’s hereafter splits Bellefontaine (2008, June 1). The Columbus Dispatch. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
13 PCC Paving Centennial (2008). American Concrete Paving Association. Web. Retrieved February 16, 2025. 
14 Bondus, B. (20144, September 25). Logan courthouse gets $8 million renovation. The Springfield News-Sun. p. 11. 
15 (See footnote 12). 
16 Narciso, D. (2015, November 12). Clock tower reset in Logan County. The Springfield News-Sun. p. 14.