The Holmes County Courthouse is a historic

government building Government Buildings ( ga, Tithe an Rialtais) is a large Edwardian building enclosing a quadrangle on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland, in which several key offices of the Government of Ireland are located. Among the offices of State located in ...

in Millersburg,

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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Built in the late nineteenth century, it has been designated a historic site because of its architectural importance.

Previous courthouses

Established by an 1824 law and organized in the following year,Thrane, Susan W. ''County Courthouses of Ohio''. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2000. Holmes County has possessed three courthouses, all of which have been located at the same site in Millersburg. The first courthouse, built in 1825, lasted only nine years before its destruction by fire. Its replacement lasted approximately fifty years until being destroyed circa 1884 to provide room for the construction of the current building,Holmes County Courthouse

Supreme Court of Ohio The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

, n.d. Accessed 2012-10-28. which began in that year and was completed in 1886.

Architecture

Constructed by

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

builders Hibbert and Schaus according to a design by J.W. Yost, this three- story courthouse comprises such elements as rough stone walls with smooth

trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

, a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

d porch with Ionic columns surrounding the main entrance, and a prominent

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

on the northern side.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 782-783. From its completion until the 1950s, the courthouse featured a statue of Lady Justice located atop the northern pediment, but its deterioration led local officials to place it in storage for many years until area lawyers paid for its restoration. Lesser elements of the building's architecture include steel details, ornamental columns and

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s closer to the

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 ...

, plastered ceilings, a state of Lady Justice in the center of the tiled floor in the building's lobby, and towers on the courthouse's corners. A prominent clock is located in the tower of the courthouse. Today, the Holmes County Courthouse remains the county's center of government. Courtrooms in the building serve as meeting places for the Holmes County Court of Common Pleas, along with other courts. Because of the county's exceptionally large

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...

population, the courthouse features a parking area with use restricted to horses and buggies.

Historic designation

Closely related to the courthouse is a jail, located on the lawn next to the courthouse. This Italianate structure is a rectangular brick building with a complex roofline. It predates the current courthouse, having been erected circa 1880. In 1974, the courthouse and jail were together listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, qualifying for inclusion because of their historically significant architecture. Ten years later, much of downtown Millersburg was designated a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

, the Millersburg Historic District, and listed on the National Register; at the core of the district is the area around the courthouse at the junction of

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and Jackson Streets.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Government buildings completed in 1886 Buildings and structures in Holmes County, Ohio County courthouses in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Holmes County, Ohio Second Empire architecture in Ohio U.S. Route 62