Rensselaer (pop. 6,000) is the county seat of Jasper County.  It is home to Saint Joseph's College of Indiana (no pics sry)

 

My apologies for the poor quality of these pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can tell I couldn't get enough of that courthouse.

 

 

 

 

Quaint.

It's incredible the size these courthouses got in comparison to the rest of town.

It's incredible the size these courthouses got in comparison to the rest of town.

 

Indiana's courthouses, along with those in some other Midwestern states, were partly products of regional rivalries that sometimes got out of hand. By the late 19th century, a lot of counties still had courthouses that predated the Civil War. Often of brick or stone construction, they still had interior construction that was all-wood, and they heated with multiple coal stoves. They were subject to fires that destroyed land title records and court records, and the fires weren't always accidental.

 

A movement began to construct fireproof, all-masonry courthouses, and it evolved into rivalries between commissioners in neighoring counties, striving to create the most imposing monuments to themselves. Under the laws of that era, voters had little oversight or control over how commissioners committed taxpayers' dollars, other than to vote them out at the next election. That happened a lot after bonds were issued to build those palaces.

 

I think about a half-dozen of the courthouses of that era have been lost because of poor maintenance (counties couldn't afford to take care of them, once they were built), or ironically, fires. Three or four of the pre-Civil War buildings still stand; my favorite is in Paoli (Orange County). The building and its setting are near-perfect:

 

One of several outstanding examples of the extravagant-courthouse era is the courthouse in Lafayette (Tippecanoe County). It was built in 1884 at a cost of $500,000, and a recent renovation cost $15 million. The building has over 100 columns on the exterior, and stands 212 feet tall. The walnut entry doors weigh 500 pounds each.

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Allen County's looks like a state capital building.  Probably one of the more monumental ones around.

 

Some other good antebellum ones in Indiana are close to Cincy...Rising Sun (Ohio County, a bit like a small Paoli one) and Vevay and Madison...twin courthouses of the same design.

 

 

 

 

I seem to recall driving through Rennselaer way way back when I-65 was still under construction, and driving past St Joes college.

 

Another little county seat town out on the "Grand Prairie" is Fowler, on US 35.  If I recall right the courthouse is actually on the other end of town from the main street.

 

Also a big grain elevator there