Starke County Courthouse

About this property

The Starke County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Knox, Indiana. It was designed by the architectural firm of Wing & Mahurin, of Fort Wayne and built in 1897. It is a three-story, Richardsonian Romanesque style Indiana Oolitic limestone and terra cotta building. It has a Greek cross-plan and is topped by a tiled hipped roof. It features a 138 feet tall clock tower located at the roof's center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Starke County was organized on April 1, 1850. County business was conducted in the log home of Jacob Tillman, the county treasurer. In 1851 a new courthouse was built for $475. The frame structure was on the southeast corner of Mound and Pearl Streets. A second courthouse was completed in 1863. It had colonial columns and a bell tower. It was the first located on the public square. The final cost was $20,000. Construction of the present courthouse started in 1897. The courthouse is in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building was constructed in 1897 by contractors George W. Caldwell and Lester Drake, of Columbus, Indiana. Caldwell and Drake are best known for the West Baden Springs Hotel, which, at that time, had the largest dome in the world, and for the Palace of Agriculture at the St. Louis World's Fair, which was the largest building ever constructed under one roof at the time of its execution. The building is a fine example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The Starke County Courthouse is significant for its Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, designed by the firm of John F. Wing and Marshall S. Mahurin, of Fort Wayne, and for its role as the seat of county government for the past 89 years. The building is the third county courthouse and is significant for its being the seat of county government for nearly 90 years. A wooden structure was utilized when Knox became the county seat in 1850, being replaced with a larger, brick building in 1858. The present structure was finished in 1898 at a cost of $130,000, and is the oldest civic building in the county. The building continues to serve the Starke County community. The courthouse presently contains the offices for zoning, health, the Council on Aging, the Court Clerk, the law library, the Jury room, probation, and Judges' Chambers, and the courtrooms. The exterior of the building is almost identical to the Ottawa County Courthouse in Port Clinton, Ohio. After visiting Starke county, the Ottawa county commissioners decided to utilize the same architectural plans, and the building was constructed in 1901. The main façade is on the south. It has three bays with a central pavilion. The pavilion has a wall dormer. The main entrance is on the ground level and projects outward only for the first level. It is built of rock-faced stone blocks. The entryway has a balustrade balcony, on a corbel table, spanning a one-story entry with gargoyle light fixtures. Above the balcony is a two and one-half story round-arched window.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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