US Post Office and Courthouse
About this property
The E. Ross Adair Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is a historic post office, courthouse, and federal office building located at Fort Wayne in Allen County, Indiana. The building is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 as U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. Fort Wayne historically served as a transportation and communication center located at the confluence of the St. Marys and St. Joseph rivers, which meet to form the Maumee River. In the 1840s, the Wabash and Erie Canal opened in Fort Wayne, and the town became a bustling business center. The population continued to increase when the arrival of the railroad boosted industrial growth. By the 1920s, Fort Wayne was an important city in the Midwest and consequently required federal services. Officials planned for a post office, federal office building, and federal courthouse. In 1928, Congress authorized funds for the acquisition of a site through the Public Buildings Act of 1926, which appropriated resources for federal buildings throughout the United States. Congress earmarked additional funds for construction through the same legislation. Federal officials retained private architects Guy Mahurin, who was from Fort Wayne, and Benjamin Morris, a New Yorker. The building was designed under the auspices of James A. Wetmore, acting supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury Department. Excavation for the new building was completed in 1931. Many contracting firms submitted construction bids. Fortunately, the bids were lower than federal officials anticipated, which allowed impressive design features such as the entry plaza and marble floors to be incorporated into the project budget. Ralph Sollitt and Sons of South Bend, Indiana, constructed the building. The building has a structural system of reinforced concrete and was one of the first large federal buildings to use this method rather than a steel frame. The reinforced concrete technique saved $30,000. Construction was completed in 1932, with an opening ceremony held on October 29 of that year. In 2000, the building was named to honor E. Ross Adair, a Republican congressman from Indiana's Fourth District. Adair, who was born in Fort Wayne in 1907 and died there in 1983, served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was ambassador to Ethiopia from 1971 to 1974. He was in private legal practice at the time of his death. The post office vacated the building in 1987. Currently, it houses the U.S. District Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and other federal offices. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 as U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.
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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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Questions about this property
When was US Post Office and Courthouse listed on the National Register?
US Post Office and Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 15, 2006.
What type of historic resource is US Post Office and Courthouse?
US Post Office and Courthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for US Post Office and Courthouse?
The period of significance for US Post Office and Courthouse is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near US Post Office and Courthouse?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near US Post Office and Courthouse will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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