The Perry County Courthouse is a historic government building in the city of New Lexington,

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 ...

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. Built near the end of the nineteenth century after the end of a

county seat war A county seat war is an American phenomenon that occurred mainly in the Old West as it was being settled and county lines determined. Incidents elsewhere, such as in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia, have also been recorded. As new towns s ...

, it is the fifth courthouse to serve Perry County, and it has been named a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

because of its imposing architecture.

History

After Perry County was established in 1817, the county commissioners and courts met for their first two years at John Fink's tavern on the eastern side of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

at the corner of Main Street (the Zane Trace) and High Street. At the end of the two years, county officials began using their newly completed jail as a courthouse; it was a jail more than anything else, and the commissioners and other people did not like to call it a courthouse, but a courtroom was provided in the second story, as well as room for other county officers. It functioned as a courthouse from 1819 until 1829. In 1826, bids were let for the construction of a purpose-built courthouse on Somerset's public square; it was occupied three years later, and the old "courthouse" jail soon succumbed to fire. Ever since the creation of the county, the village of New Lexington had been agitating to become the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

, and a

war ensued in the 1850s; after three new state laws, three elections, and two decisions by the Supreme Court, the county offices departed Somerset for the upstart community in early 1857,Thrane, Susan W. ''County Courthouses of Ohio''. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2000, 119-120. leaving the old courthouse to be used by Somerset as its

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

. The first courthouse at New Lexington was not paid for by the taxpayers in general, because advocates of New Lexington as county seat had raised the necessary amount through private donations. Among the stipulations of the state law permitting the removal of the county seat was that suitable buildings should be provided if the seat were to be moved; such a building was finished, but it stood vacant for several years before the offices were placed in it.Martzolff, Clement Luther.
History of Perry County, Ohio
'. New Lexington: Ward and Weiland, 1902, 134. As the end of the nineteenth century approached, the county's needs expanded to the point that the old courthouse was insufficient, and a fifth courthouse, the present structure, was erected in 1887 and dedicated one year later.

Architecture

Designed by Joseph W. Yost, and built at a cost of $143,000, the present Perry County Courthouse is a large Richardsonian Romanesque building constructed of stone; the ashlar walls are laid in a random fashion, while the ashlar of the

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

is laid in a more regular manner. Visitors can enter the building through a grand recessed entrance under an archway at the top of a grand staircase; upon reaching the interior, they find themselves in a hallway with a tiled floor and plaster

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s on the walls between the entrances for various county offices. The most prominent component of the exterior is the two-part clock tower in the center, which rises above the street, but the entire building derives an appearance of great size from its three-

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

constructionOwen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2.

St. Clair Shores St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ...

: Somerset, 1999, 1136-1137. and from the large monolithic wall above the main entrance. Its Romanesque influence is apparent from details such as the miniature

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s above the main entrance and on the corners of the tower. From its earliest years, the courthouse has been considered one of Ohio's grandest, due in part to its location in a small community in a rural county.

Jail

Located behind the courthouse is the old county jail, a three-story brick building. Also constructed in 1887, it succeeded the old courthouse as the jail; the 1857 courthouse included dedicated jail space on its first floor.Graham, A.A., ed. ''History of Fairfield and Perry Counties, Ohio: Their Past and Present''.

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: Beers, 1883.

Recent history

In 1981, the Perry County Courthouse and its jail were listed together 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 ...

, qualifying for designation both because of their architecture and because of their place in Ohio's history. In the 1990s, the courthouse attracted statewide attention when a prominent lawsuit, '' DeRolph v. State'', was filed in the Perry County Common Pleas Court. Claiming that Ohio's existing system of school funding violated the state constitution, a coalition of school districts in southern Ohio sued the state in 1991 in order to force through a fundamental change in school funding.Drew, James.
Coalition Legal Fees $3.6M and Growing: Ohio Taxpayers Foot Bills for Columbus Firm's Work
. '' The Blade'', 2001-06-17. Accessed 2013-05-22. Upon the county judge's ruling in favor of the coalition three years later, the lawsuit was appealed through the courts and received numerous trials in all levels of the Ohio judiciary throughout the rest of the decade, including multiple decisions by the Supreme Court.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Government buildings completed in 1887 Buildings and structures in Perry County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Perry County, Ohio Clock towers in Ohio County courthouses in Ohio Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio New Lexington, Ohio Romanesque Revival architecture in Ohio