Crown Point, Indiana

August 17, 2011

 

All Photographs Copyright © 2011 by Robert E Pence

 

Lake County is the northwesternmost Indiana county. It was formed in 1837 and has an area of approximately 626 square miles. The 2000 census

put the population at 484,564.

 

The county seat, Crown Point, had a population of 27,317 at the 2010 census. The Lake County Courthouse was designed by Chicago architect

John C. Cochrane and built by Thomas and Hugh Colwell using locally-made bricks, and incorporates a combination of Romanesque and Georgian

styles. The central portion was built at a cost of $52,000 and dedicated in 1880. The two wings with their towers cost $160,000 were dedicated in 1909.

The building was threatened with demolition to create a parking lot in the early 1970s after county administrative functions moved to a new building,

and was saved through the determined efforts of citizens. It was registered as a national historic landmark in 1973.

The Lake Court House Foundation, Inc., manages and maintains the building.

 

The terrain here is somewhat rolling, and as I came into town on Indiana 231 and crested a rise, I saw this. My immediate reaction was, "Holy .... !"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elegant marble wainscotting and floors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The courthouse basement houses specialty retail shops and dining establishments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around the town square and the central business district

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Masonic Temple

 

 

 

The public library was expanded with an addition at the rear, facing Court Street. The original building still serves the public as the Carnegie Center.

 

 

 

The Old Sheriff's House was built in 1882. The large jail in back, built in 1926, is best known as

the jail from which John Dillinger escaped in 1934 using a fake gun carved from wood,

not from soap as the popular legend says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1847 Wellington A. Clark homestead, the oldest house in Crown Point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow!  Saving that Courthouse was definitely a worth while effort.  I don't know what condition it was in during the 1970's but I just can't imagine losing something that striking to a parking lot.  The rest of the town is very photogenic too, it looks like someone there understands something about preservation.

That stunning courthouse, and the fate it escaped, makes me wonder about what Tom Brokaw called our "Greatest Generation." They endured the Great Depression, won WWII and fueled the post-war American economic boom. But they also were party to the "old is bad; new is good" mentality that led to the destruction of so much of our urban fabric and some of our most beautiful architectural gems.

Wonderful tour, by the way. Thanks.

 

It is quite sad that the county is no longer in the courthouse. Reminds me of Evansville.

Looks like a nice, healthy town.

I have a friend who lives in Crown Point and works in downtown Chicago.  A little under a 2 hour commute one-way, with driving and two trains..  I would imagine there are others that work in south-metro Chicago.

Seems like a world away from Gary.

Very nice.  Are you trying to see all the county-seats in Indiana like Ink?

Very nice.  Are you trying to see all the county-seats in Indiana like Ink?

 

I'm working on it, little by little. I haven't had much opportunity in several years to just take off with the purpose of doing that, but whenever I can detour through a new one on an otherwise essential trip, I do it. I'm thinking this fall I might make an excursion primarily for that purpose. I need to create another thread just for a compilation of my courthouse photos; I try to get photos inside them whenever possible, but some have absolute no-camera policies, with just one entrance open to the public, and security screeners on duty with metal detectors. On this trip, in Knox multiple entrances were open and there were no screeners. I arrived in Rochester after the courthouse closed for the day, but all the doors appeared to be functional and I didn't see any screening equipment when I peered through the glass. If there's no screening, I just walk in and start photographing unless I see a law-enforcement officer on duty anywhere, like outside a courtroom. In that case I ask, and usually they don't object except to tell me I can't take photographs inside the courtroom while court is in session, or photographs of any of the people waiting outside the courtroom.