Read time: 5 min.

Something felt off when I first visited Indiana’s Montgomery County Courthouse back in 2016. The grand old building was missing its crown! What I didn’t realize then was that behind the scenes, a massive restoration effort was already in motion. The new tower was ready to rise when I returned a few years later, and, as luck would have it, I wound up catching the courthouse in a rare in-between moment. It was historic, hopeful, and unlike anything I’d seen before.

Designed by George Bunting and completed in 1876¹, the current Montgomery County Courthouse is the third to serve the community. When originally built, its soaring tower rose an impressive 155 feet above Crawfordsville². That height, however, didn’t last. In 1941, a painter suspected the tower was leaning. Officials moved swiftly by removing the courthouse tower, melting down its bell, and discarding the clockworks near the county highway barn. A local jeweler salvaged the clock and displayed it at his downtown store³, but the rest was lost to history.

No one felt the loss of the missing tower more deeply than Dr. James Kirtley. A respected physician and future state representative, Kirtley grew up blocks from the square and attended Wabash College right down the street. In 1996, he took action by launching a fund to restore the courthouse he loved. By the time leukemia claimed his life, he’d raised an incredible $250,000⁴! Kirtley didn’t just leave behind a vision, however- he left a wish. His final hope was to see the project through, and his close friend Sandy Lofland-Brown stepped up to honor it. 

By chance, I first learned about the project while crisscrossing Indiana to photograph the state’s courthouses. My journey started with the restoration of the old Randolph County Courthouse in Winchester, and I was thankful for the opportunity to contribute with a donation to Crawfordsville’s s second time around. A year or so later, local officials finally approved a contract to rebuild the tower⁵. As crews began installing new steel supports, Campbellsville Industries got to work constructing the replacement at their facility in Kentucky. Once finished, it was taken apart, packed up, and carefully hauled north on I-65 before turning west onto I-74 toward Crawfordsville.

The new tower consisted of three separate constructs: a 12,000-pound base with Corinthian pilasters and an arched Krinklglas window, a second 10,000-pound segment with four five-foot clock faces, and a third 1,000-pound piece with a finial and flagpole. Once installed, the tower would rise eighty-six feet above the building⁶. It did- a day after I stopped by.

Seeing the clock tower laid out at eye level in the courthouse parking lot was a surreal experience: I’d stumbled across a monument mid-transformation. Each of the structure’s components, all crafted in prefabricated aluminum- suddenly felt real and tangible. I could have traced the edges where sky and skyline would eventually meet again if I’d thought to get closer! Next to the venerable courthouse, the disassembled tower was history paused: it wasn’t yet restored; it was just waiting.

I can’t remember what kept me from making it back the next day to see the tower lifted into place, but I didn’t wait long: I was back in Crawfordsville the very next day! The new tower stays remarkably true to George Bunting’s original design, but it’s been thoughtfully simplified to complement a courthouse that’s seen its fair share of changes since the original was removed.

Campbellsville Industries knocked it out of the park, and so did the county commissioners and the dedicated committee who saw the value in reinvesting in their downtown.  Most of all, credit goes to Dr. Kirtley, whose vision and persistence helped transform the building from a pockmark into a proud landmark once again.

I’ve visited something like two hundred courthouses across the Midwest by now. Each has its own quirks, stories, and architectural flourishes, but few have left an impression on me quite like Montgomery County’s. Watching its restoration unfold in real time was something special. There’s a different kind of magic in seeing a historic structure not just admired, but actively brought back to life. 

Seeing the clock tower at street level with its pieces scattered and waiting felt like catching a glimpse behind the curtain of time to witness history in the making, instead of reading about it after the fact like I usually do. Ever since, the memory has stayed with me. Here’s hoping the tower stands for another 150 years. 

Sources Cited
1 Enyart, David. “Montgomery County” Indiana County Courthouse Histories. ACPL Genealogy Center, 2010-2023. Web. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
2 A Towering Achievement Decades in the Making (2018, May 24). Indiana Landmarks [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved April 15, 2025. 
3 “Danzebrink rebuilt courthouse’s clock” The Journal Review [Crawfordsville] May 11, 2018. Web. Retrieved 5/20/18.
4 Clock tower committee reflects on more than 20 years of fundraising The Journal Review [Crawfordsville] May 19, 2018. Web. Retrieved 5/20/18.
5 “Promise kept: Courthouse clock tower, gone since WWII, returns in Crawfordsville” May 17, 2018. Web. Retrieved 5/20/18.
6 “Long awaited clock tower to make its way to Montgomery County courthouse” The Journal & Courier [Lafayette] May 7, 2018. Web. Retrieved 5/20/18.