Built Environment : Structures : Buildings :

The Foursquare Courthouse Form: Gallery 2

Meeting Houses, Town Houses, Court Houses

A cubical two-story building with a pyramidal roof used predominantly for 19C courthouses

Foursquare Courthouses (and Other Foursquare Public Buildings) (alphabetical by state or country, and then by county or town)

(Direct to Thumbnails)

This gallery continues from Gallery 1

Brown County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 330, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Carrol County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 361, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Clark County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 397, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Columbiana County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 438, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Coshocton County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 469, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Crawford County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 469, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Darke County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 531, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Fairfield County Courthouse, Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio - 1806-c1880 (c1880, 1845)

c1880 photo from Heritage of Architecure and Arts, Fairfield County, Ohio. (Drinkle 1994); 1845 Illustration on page 591, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Note the true scale provided by the people in the photograph - some of these buildings were grand and oversized compared to what we think we see in old images of them. Note that the cupola appears to be different between the two images.

Fayette County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 605, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

First Franklin County Courthouse, Franklinton, Franklin County, Ohio - 1807

Illustration (scanned from another source) on bottom of page 3, Who Are They? : The First Nations of Franklin County, Ohio (Sandy Andromeda, 2003)

Second Franklin County Courthouse? Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio - 1824?

Illustration (scanned from another source, and misidentified as the original Ohio Statehouse in Columbus) on middle of page 4, Who Are They? : The First Nations of Franklin County, Ohio (Sandy Andromeda, 2003)

Gallia County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 678, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Guernsey County, Ohio, 1845

Illustration on page 729, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Hamilton County Courthouse(?), Cincinnati, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 768, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Harrison County Courthouse - 1845

Illustration on page 890, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Jackson County, Ohio - 1818?

A historical friend of mine has proposed that the original Jackson County Courthouse was octagonal...if I remember right. I'll get back to you on that...

Jefferson County, Ohio - 1845

Illustration on page 965, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

First Lawrence County Courthouse,
Burlington, Ohio - 1818 to c1930s

Architectural rendering found in the National Register file for the Old Lawrence County Jail at the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, Columbus, Ohio, USA. A pencilled note on the approximately 17x14 inch copy states "razed more than 40 years ago;" the nomination dates to about 1978.

Old Burlington Jail / Second Lawrence County Jail,
Burlington, Ohio - 1846-47 to 2000...

(The 1997 photo is of the rear and side.)

This building was the second Lawrence County Jail (and probably sheriff's residence). I found it abandoned and dilapidated in 1997 and photo-documented it then. You can find those images in its own webpage. It was burned in 2000 and only the stone walls remain (as of 2002). It shared the town square with the long-gone First Lawrence County Courthouse. The building was similar to, through probably newer than, the Old Pike County Jail, Piketon, Ohio.

Old Meigs County Courthouse,
Chester, Meigs County, Ohio - c1808

One of only two surviving Foursquare Courthouses in Ohio, in a lovely setting on a hill in a tiny town, paired with an old school building and now a museum. Photo by Kevin B. Coleman, 8 September 2006.

The other survivor is the old courthouse in Somerset, Perry County. More to come.

Old Perry County Courthouse,
Somerset, Ohio - 1807?

One of only two surviving Foursquare Courthouses in Ohio, in a lovely setting on a roundabout in the center of a charming small town. An apparent later addition is the second floor over and connector to the jail in the stone rear part. Photos by Kevin B. Coleman, 2 September 2007.

The other survivor is the old courthouse in Chester, Perry County. More to come.

Pickaway County Courthouse - 1811 to c1880

Although it was octagonal, the building was clearly derived from the square courthouse form and it belongs in this list.

Illustration from "The Story of the Octagon", where the old courthouse is proposed as inspiration for the Gregg Octagon House just outside of Circleville. This recent illustration is probably a little anachronistic - the Italianate styled doorway, cornice, and segmentally arched windows do not belong on a building in early Ohio, and are probably borrowed by the artist from the Gregg House.

The bird's-eye-view is a famous 1919 sketch of the town as it appeared just before beginning to be "squared" in 1838.

Old Pike County Jail, Piketon, Pike County, Ohio - c1820

This foursquare-form public building still stands.

The old courthouse, which was either of Foursquare Form - or maybe even octagonal - next door at the corner of the block is long gone. It is similar to, through probably older than, the Old Lawrence County Jail, Burlington, Ohio.

Photo by Kevin B. Coleman, 20 June 1998.

Ohio Statehouse
(the third building used for that purpose, but first built specifically for it)

Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio - 1814?-1852? (1846, 18--)

1846 Illustration on page 616, volume 1, Historical Collections of Ohio, in Two Volumes (Howe 1896)

Old Stone Courthouse /
First Ohio Statehouse /
Second Ross County Courthouse
(the first building used as the statehouse, but not built specifically for it)

Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio - 1801-1853 (1801, c1852)

c1852 image from a Masonic publication...; 1801 illustration from a printed image...; my 2004 3D rendering

This building, almost mythical in Chillicothe and Ross County, is what led me to investigate this building form. Other images created around the Ohio centennial in 1903 are less accurate depictions. Just down the street from its former location is a semi-accurate 1940s reproduction built for the local newspaper.

I also have an approximate three-dimensional rendering of it.

Municipal/Community Building,

South Bloomfield, Pickaway County, Ohio - c1850

This is a public building (formerly a school) surviving in the small town of South Bloomfield, now modified and reused as the community / municipal building.