Decatur County Courthouse, Indiana
| Decatur County Courthouse | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
 The Decatur County Courthouse in Greensburg |
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| location | Greensburg , Decatur County , Indiana | ||
| Coordinates | 39 ° 20 '13.6 " N , 85 ° 29' 0.4" W | ||
| Built | 1861 | ||
| Architectural style | Neo-romance | ||
| NRHP number | 73000014 | ||
| The NRHP added | 1973 | ||
The Decatur County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Greensburg , Indiana that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is best known for having a tree growing on its roof.
history
The first courthouse in Decatur County's was built in the 1820s and consisted of a log cabin . On May 14, 1822, the court met for the first time in the building that belonged to a Thomas Hendricks. A few years later, a small brick building was built in a public square where the court sat until 1855. Construction of the structure, which still exists today, began in 1850. The construction costs were around 100,000 US dollars (in prices from 1861, according to today's prices 2,988,000 US dollars). At the time of its completion, the building was considered the most beautiful courthouse in the state of Indiana.
At the beginning of the 1870s it was found that tree seeds had sprouted on the roof of the 33 m high tower and a total of five little trees were sighted. County officials soon feared damage to the tower, and in 1888 a tower worker was hired to remove some of the sprouts. Of the two plants left, one eventually reached a height of about 15 feet (about 4.5 m) and the trunk reached a diameter of five inches (about eight centimeters) at its base . At some point another seedling began to flourish on the southeast corner of the tower and reached a considerable height within a few years. Later a little tree grew in the southwest corner of the tower.
The exact nature of these trees was the subject of discussion. The Smithsonian Institute once determined that the plants would be coarse-toothed quivering aspen , but recent research by Purdue University staff found that the tree currently growing there is a mulberry tree .
In 1994 the north side of the house was renovated and expanded, almost doubling the usable area of the building. The plaster was removed so that the original brick facade was exposed.
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Mark F. Haston: Marc's Old Greensburg Indiana Photos ( English ) Mark Haston. April 7, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 23, 2011.
- ↑ a b c HISTORY OF THE CITY OF GREENSBURG ( English ) City of Greensburg , Indiana. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ Greensburg's famous tower tree ( English ) Decatur County , Indiana . Retrieved January 23, 2011.
