Tag modern courthouse

The St. Joseph County, Indiana Courthouse in Mishawaka (1980-)

Ted Shideler Leave a comment
Read time: 6 min.

In times of political polarization and calculated discord like these, it’s nice to remember a simpler era when parties could occasionally join forces for the common good. In a “rare display of public unity1,” Democratic and Republican commissioners of St. Joseph County came together to approve plans for a new satellite courthouse in Mishawaka more than forty years ago. One official said their effort was the first display of partisan partnership ever, aside from the occasional heart fund or blood bank campaign.

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The St. Joseph County, Indiana Courthouse (1967-69; 2015-)

Ted Shideler 2 Comments
Read time: 8 min.

Pete Buttigieg spent more time in the national news than any Indiana mayor in recent memory. His time in the spotlight meant that South Bend, the city that bestowed Pete’s former title, was too. TV pundits wrote the city off like it was some backwoods village, but South Bend’s got some heft to it. Along with two historic courthouses, the city’s home to a big, modern, one.

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The Cass County Courthouse in Indiana (1979-)

Ted Shideler 2 Comments
Read time: 9 min.

If you’re a fan of architecture like me, it’s easy to forget that, at their core, courthouses are buildings that house the courts. I can throw all the shade I want toward officials who vote to demolish a historic courthouse, but I start to come around when it becomes apparent that the building is no longer able to adequately serve its purpose. That happened in Logansport in the late 1970s. As a result, Cass County has the dubious distinction of being home to Indiana’s most recent historic courthouse casualty.

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The Elkhart County, Indiana Courthouse in Elkhart (1971-)

Ted Shideler Leave a comment
Read time: 7 min.

A couple of years ago, I joined the Facebook group I Grew Up in Elkhart, IN because, well, I sort of did. My dad moved to the area in the late 1990s to take a marketing job with the musical instruments conglomerate Conn-Selmer, so I grew up there for two-day biweekly periods from the age of seven or so up through my sophomore year of high school when I lived with him. I’m probably the least qualified member of that group given that it took me two decades to learn that there’s a courthouse in downtown Elkhart, but I joined it nonetheless.

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The Branch County, Michigan Courthouse (1976-)

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Read time: 8 min.

Have you ever heard the story of Timothy Dexter, the world’s luckiest idiot? A rube from Massachusetts, he made his first fortune by buying up huge sums of worthless Contintental currency that the government unexpectedly made good on after the American Revolution. Fortune in hand, he took his jealous rivals’ sarcastic advice to send bed warmers and woolen mittens to the tropical West Indies. Amazingly, the bed warmers were sold as molasses ladles and the mittens were gobbled up by Asian merchants to export to Siberia1! Other transactions involving sending gloves to Polynesia, Bibles to the East Indies, and stray cats to the Caribbean all worked out in his favor, and Timothy Dexter died a rich man in 1806. I mention the guy because it’s only by a similar series of events that the town of Coldwater, Michigan ever became the seat of Branch County.

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The Delaware County, Indiana Courthouse (1969-1992)

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Read time: 8 min.

“…Neither functional nor beautiful, but the object of much frustration, hopelessness, and public expense1.”

“…A disgrace to the community2.”

“The symbol of county government is lagging behind the times3.”

“The realization of the need for a new courthouse has been evident to most of our community for some time4.”

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The Madison County, Indiana Courthouse (1972-)

Ted Shideler 4 Comments
Read time: 8 min.

“Bullies don’t like to fight, son. They like to win.” 

The poet Kwame Alexander wrote those words in his graphic novel Booked, a story about a twelve-year-old soccer player named Nick who struggles to navigate life after his parents’ divorce. Who among us was twelve and wasn’t bullied for one stupid reason or another? If you were, it’s time to pool our funds and buy a jacket to send to Madison County. We may have to bring the tent and awning company in on this one.

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The Marion County, Indiana Courthouse (1962-2022)

Ted Shideler 4 Comments
Read time: 9 min.

I have a hard time believing that the Indianapolis City-County Building is sixty years old this year. My frame of reference towards what’s old or not is still based on it being the year 2000! I was ten, and a sampling of sixty-year-old buildings would dig up a handful of Art Deco, Prairie Style, and Neo-Gothic structures. In other words, buildings that actually looked old and, in lots of ways, resembled the City-County Building’s predecessor, the 1876 Marion County Courthouse. 

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