West Virginia’s Monongalia County Courthouse in Morgantown (1891-)

Read time: 4 min.

When I first started taking pictures of Indiana’s county courthouses, I never imagined the hobby would take me all the way to a chain of them in West Virginia. Hoosier borders felt plenty wide enough, but life had a funny way of expanding my map: seven years ago, a cousin’s wedding gave me the perfect excuse to cross several state lines and see what lay beyond. As I wound through the hills, I couldn’t resist pulling over for a few shots. One of the buildings I found was the Monongalia County Courthouse in Morgantown. 

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The LaPorte County, Indiana Courthouse (1894-)

Read time: 6 min.

People like to assign human traits and characteristics to animals and inanimate objects. There are myriad psychological, social, and cultural reasons we do it. I tend to anthropomorphize courthouses. To me, LaPorte County’s looks like a Cyclops belting out his favorite tune! Its open-arched clock tower was designed to let natural light flood through a 273-piece skylight1.

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Fort Wayne’s fearsome Monster Mouse

Read time: 11 min.

Imagine hurtling through the air at breakneck speed, your heart pounding in exhilaration as your screams blend in with the rush of wind. That’s the grim reality my dad found himself in during the summer of 1967! Thirty years later, he still spoke in hushed tones when we drove past the site of Fort Wayne’s Jack and Jill Amusement Park and its star attraction, the Monster Mouse.

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The Ohio County Courthouse in Indiana (1845-)

Read time: 6 min.

Here in Indiana, a typical county measures just over 389 square miles. Somehow, Ohio County only checks in at a measly eighty-six1. It’s not only the state’s smallest county, but it’s the tiniest in the entire nation! There, in Rising Sun, the oldest operating courthouse in the state administers justice to about 6,000 residents. 

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