The Defiance County Courthouse is located at 221 Clinton Street in

Defiance Defiance may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Defiance'' (1952 film), a Swedish drama film directed by Gustaf Molander * ''Defiance'' (1980 film), an American crime drama starring Jan-Michael Vincent * ''Defiance'' (2002 film), a ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States.

History

Defiance County was established in 1845 but had its roots in Williams County. The latter county was established in 1824 with the county seat at Defiance. As Williams County lost land to other counties, Defiance was no longer central for the remaining population. The county seat changed to Bryan and would have doomed Defiance if not for a proposal for a new county. The time was right for Defiance as the population surrounding it grew to the numbers needed to form a new county. On March 4, 1845, a bill was passed to form Defiance County with the county seat in Defiance. A celebration was held on March 13 with speeches, bonfires, and banquets. The first courts were held in a brick schoolhouse located on Wayne Street, but the first courthouse was started in October 1845. This

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

building was designed and built by John Bostata on the site of the present courthouse. The brick structure rose two stories tall with a portico framed by four columns supporting a pediment. The rectangular building was lined with rectangular windows and pilasters with an entablature topping the facade. The roof was topped by a square drum supporting a domed cupola capped by a spire. This courthouse served the county until 1870 as the population continued to grow. Soon the courthouse was deemed to be too small and a new courthouse was needed. The county selected the plans of architect J.C. Johnson designed in the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

and

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

styles. The courthouse was designed with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

but was decided against for safety reasons. In 2006 the county was faced with a growing population and needed more room for the county offices. The county issued a vote to determine if the current courthouse should be razed or if a new building or addition should be built. The vote came back in favor of the building leading the county to investigate alternatives.

Exterior

The three-story building has a projecting center and ends. The facade is lined with decorative stone elements along the window and door trims and pilasters. The stone foundation is windowless and contains a

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

. The first floor contains long rectangular windows with triangular pediments crowning each window. The entrance is located in a small arched portico with

Doric columns The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

. The second floor once contained arched windows but the arched portion is now bricked over and contains long rectangular windows. The third floor once matched the decorative bottom floors but was removed and replaced by a modern design containing rectangular windows and a clock face. The third floor was once topped by a balustrade, and the central projection rose into a clock tower 125 feet above the ground. A war memorial was designed by Mark Homier and is situated in front of the courthouse and lists the names of Defiance County soldiers from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, and the

Global War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant I ...

. The memorial depicts a grieving soldier and a nurse in the center of two gently sloping wings. The memorial also contains an eternal flame in honor of those who gave all for their country.

History

Exterior

References

Further reading