HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
CHAPTER 4

COURT HOUSES AND JAILS

The first court house was a small log building erected by John Pickard in 1816 for $25, to be used only until a larger and better one could be built. This house was not used except for a session or two, after which subsequent courts met in private residences or stores until the completion of the court house of 1818. On the 4th of May, 1816, the contract of building a jail was let to John Pickard, who completed the work by August, 1817, at which time the structure was formally accepted. The total cost was $699: The building was of logs, and was used until 1821, when it was either rebuilt or replaced with a new one. In January, 1817, preparations were made to build a court house. The fund from the sale of town lots was ample, and the County Board decided to erect a creditable building. The contract was let to Jonathan Lindley, February 1, 1817, for $4,000, one-half to be paid in nine months and the remainder when the work was finished. Owen Lindley, Thomas Lindley and Robert Hollowell were sureties on Mr. Lindley’s bond. The building was to be of stone; was to be 33x50 feet; two-storied, fourteen feet between floors; upper story eight feet between floors; walls of the first story two feet thick, and of the upper story eighteen inches thick; eight windows with twenty-four panes of glass each in the lower story, and six in the upper story; one chimney and two doors; court-room below and Clerk’s office and jury-rooms above; windows with Venetian blinds. This building was completed in November, 1818, and reported for the acceptance of the County Board. Upon examination the Board refused to accept the building as finished, owing to alleged incompleteness in some parts, but signified their willingness to pay all except $150 of the contract price. Mr. Lindley refused to accept this proposition and asked that a committee of three might be appointed to examine and report what deduction, if any, should be made. He appointed David Floyd, and the County Board appointed Maj. Charles Dewey, and these two appointed the third member of the committee. The examination was made and the building was to be received and paid for with the exception of a deduction of $50. This satisfied all parties. The building, then, cost $3,950. It was a two storied stone structure, compactly rather than ornamentally built, covered about two-thirds of the ground of the present court house, and stood on the square where the other now stands. The entire story below was used for a court room, while above were two small jury rooms and a larger room used for various purposes while the building stood - as a library room, and as a law office by Judge Simpson, and perhaps others.

In February, 1821, the County Board let the contract of building a new jail, or perhaps remodeling the old one, to Abraham Bosley, for $800, the work to be completed by November of the same year, and the building to be erected in accordance with specifications, which required the foundation to be of stone. and the structure of oak one foot square. The building was duly erected, and for many years was considered one of the safest jails in Southern Indiana. It was two-storied, and was lined with heavy oak plank placed upright and pinned to the logs with numerous huge spikes. It had two cells, one above and one below, and stood where the present jail stands, and near it was a log house usually occupied by the Jailer, who at that time was appointed and assigned duty now performed by or under the authority of the Sheriff. The actual cost was $810. In the fall of 1828 a small one-storied brick Clerk’s office was built on the square a short distance west of the court house. It was in size about 20x24 feet, and cost only about $300. The other county officers found offices elsewhere than in the court house, usually, it is said, in the earlier days, carrying their offices around with them.

THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE AND JAIL

In the autumn of 1839 the County Board, after some consideration, prepared specifications for a new court house, and issued an order to that effect, which was recorded on the minutes; but in November the action was annulled and nothing further seems to have been done at that time. In the autumn of 1847 it was fully determined by the County Board to erect a new and larger court house on the public square. Specifications were prepared and a Court House Committee was appointed, as follows: A. J. Simpson, John Baker, John H. Campbell, Thomas V. Thornton and John A. Ritter. Arrangements were soon completed. Andrew L. Burke was given the contract to make the bricks at $7.50 per 1,000, or $10 per 1,000 for those necessary in the columns. Michael Ombaker seems to have had the contract to lay the brick. The stone work of the foundation was laid for $1.25 per perch. The wood work was done by William Harman. The work on this structure continued until 1850, when the building was turned over to the county wholly finished. It cost a total of over $14,000, and at that day was the best county court house in southern Indiana. The order of architecture, especially the four huge columns on the south end, is nearer the Doric than any other. The shaft of the circular columns of the portico is of the best brick covered with cement of great durability, while the capital is of plain, heavy slabs of hydraulic limestone. On each side and each end of the building are engaged columns of brick work relieved by engaged capitals to correspond with the circular columns on the south portico. These engaged columns are square, and greatly relieve the otherwise broad and bare side and end of the building. Between the capitals and the eave-plate is a considerable space devoted to fancy molding. The under surface of the projecting eaveplate is made conspicuous by a species of crenelated molding. At the center of the ridge is the cupola surmounted with a weather vane, and occupied by a clock (since 1856). The building is 53x74 feet, and the distance to the eave-plate is about forty-five feet. The town clock was a donation from the citizens, and was placed in the cupola in 1856. The hall is ten feet wide. The court room is above and the county offices below. In 1857-58 the present stone jail was built at a total cost of $6,787.58. The building committee were: A. J. Simpson, Dr. C. White, William Johnson, H. C. Wible and John C. Albert. The contractor was Morgan Morris, and the woodwork was done by William Shaw. The building is about 25x60 feet, with jail and jailor’s residence combined, is two-storied and of brick, and has a one-storied addition on the west. The jail is in the southern part, and the cells or rooms are of solid stone three feet thick, except in the upper story, where brick is used. Those confined occasionally escape from this building.

THE COUNTY HIGHWAYS

The county was hardly organized before the survey of county roads was ordered. One of the first connected Salem and Paoli; another Paoli and Orleans; another Paoli and the Harrison County line; another from Orleans to White River; from Paoli toward the mouth of Little Blue River; from Paoli south through Greenfield Township; from Paoli to Section 12, Township 4 north, Range 2 west, on White River, and others. For the first half dozen years roads were built in all directions, and the want of a road fund was seriously felt. Many worked the roads gratuitously and gladly. The New London and Paoli State Road was projected in 1820, passing through Livonia and Salem. It was in 1820 also that the Commissioners appointed by the General Assembly (Frederick Sholdtz, John G. Clendenin and John Eastburn) laid out the (then) New Albany and Vincennes State Road (now the New Albany Turnpike). Extensive work was begun on this afterward famous road. In 1823 the road was re-surveyed. The distance from New Albany to the court house at Paoli was forty-one miles, and there were twenty-five miles of the road in Orange County. It was soon fully completed. After this the roads became so numerous that it is impossible to follow them.

In 1836 the famous 3 per cent fund furnished by the State began to be received. This was to be used on the county roads, under the superintendence of special Commissioners appointed by the County Board. John Hollowell, James Doaner, William Cathcart, Jarvis Smith, Jesse Reed, John Pinnick and many others thus served. William Cathcart was the 3 per cent Commnissioner. The amount received from the State was $1,926.86, all of which was soon expended on the roads. Edward Millis built the first substantial bridge over Lost River on the Orleans and Paoli Road for $428 in 1842. So numerous became the county roads projected and built that no attempt will be made to trace an account of them.

THE NEW ALBANY AND PAOLI TURNPIKE

The New Albany and Vincennes Road was a State road of the usual kind until the passage of the famous internal improvement bill in about 1835-36, after which the road was re-surveyed, partly re-located, and metaled with good stone, the work being finished to Paoli in 1839. After the completion of the road in this manner toll gates were erected, and have survived until the present. In about 1850 a chartered company of men living all along the line of the road raised sufficient means to pay off the outstanding road script, which had been issued at the time of construction, the amount being, it is said, about $30,000, less about $14,000 that had been redeemed, the real amount paid by the company, it is asserted, being about $16,000. This was extremely cheap, as the road cost the approximate amount of nearly a quarter of a million of dollars. The State had become tired of its internal improvements, and the Legislature rendered this sale possible in a special enactment. This company (the purchasers) have remained the owners of the road until the present. The property is very valuable, the stock paying a high dividend and being far above par. At the time of the purchase it was the intention to put down plank, but this was abandoned after a few miles had been laid-none in Orange County.

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