Van Wert County Courthouse
About this property
The Van Wert County Courthouse is a historic governmental building in downtown Van Wert, Ohio, United States. Located at 121 E. Main Street, the courthouse is a Second Empire structure built in 1876. It is Van Wert County's third courthouse: when the county was established, the village of Willshire was designated the county seat; Van Wert was made the seat in 1838, and a courthouse-and-jail complex was built in that community in the following year. Designed by T.J. Tolan, an architect from Fort Wayne, Indiana, the courthouse is a square structure with towers on all four corners. Its architecture combines copious amounts of brick and stone: the foundation and the walls of the first floor are stone, along with the pilasters, columns, and quoins on the upper parts of the exterior, while the walls of the remaining stories and of the tower are built of brick. Tolan employed multiple groundbreaking construction techniques throughout the structure, such as pressed steel; his success in using these innovations earned recognition for both him and the courthouse in a national trade journal. Rising above the front of the courthouse is a clock tower with a statue of Justice placed in a niche. Made of zinc, the statue is 8 feet (2.4 m) tall; before its installation at the courthouse, it was awarded first place in a Philadelphia sculpture competition. Today, county officials continue to use the courthouse for everyday operations. Among the offices in the courthouse are those of the county treasurer, the county recorder, the county auditor, and the Van Wert County Common Pleas Court. Some other county agencies maintain offices in other locations, such as the county sheriff and the county commissioners. In 1974, the Van Wert County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, becoming the first building in the county to receive this distinction. It qualified for inclusion because of its well-preserved historic architecture, which was seen as significant statewide.
Location
Categories
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.
Everything a full report reveals about Van Wert County Courthouse
This page lists Van Wert County Courthouse. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Van Wert County Courthouse listed on the National Register?
Van Wert County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 29, 1974.
What type of historic resource is Van Wert County Courthouse?
Van Wert County Courthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Van Wert County Courthouse?
The period of significance for Van Wert County Courthouse is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Van Wert County 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 Van Wert County Courthouse will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Van Wert County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Van Wert County.
Explore Van WertCounty ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Van Wert County Courthouse will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.