| There is no
record of a courthouse in Shelbyville. By a vote of the
people in April of 1859, the county seat was moved from
Shelbyville to Harlan, and in 1860 there was erected by
James M. Long and Adam T. Ault a frame courthouse in the
center of Court and Seventh Streets. The official business
of the County was held in this building until 1875 when the
Board of Supervisors appropriated $4,250 for a courthouse,
which was built in that year on the Public Square. By 1890,
it was recommended to the Board that the vaults of the
courthouse containing the records should be condemned and
the rooms were no longer adequate for the purpose of
transacting public business. As in
many counties, the proposition to erect a new courthouse was
met with opposition and was defeated a couple times before
finally carrying in the November, 1891 General Election; the
vote was 1898 votes for and 1270 votes against. The new
courthouse was to be of solid stone, entire with a slate
roof, the dimensions of 72 x 112 feet on the ground, three
stories in height, with a ten foot basement. "The apex of
the central tower will kiss the morning sunlight at a height
of 130 feet." C. E. Bell of Council Bluffs was the
architect. The contract for erection of the courthouse was
awarded to W. H. Cockerell for $43,500.
It may be of interest to note the
materials which went into the building of the courthouse:
1,000,000 bricks, 80 car loads of stone. The rest of the
materials were measured by wagon loads (in parentheses):
galvanized iron (15), vault doors & iron (10), slate (15),
brick (1000), stone (800), lime and cement (550), lumber
(120), sand (350), plastering (20), iron work (20), tile
(10), concrete (150), sash & doors (40),for a total of 3,100
wagon loads of materials. "One of the great days in Shelby
County history was Thursday, August 4, 1892, on which the
corner stone of the present courthouse was laid." The
Courthouse Dedication was held on September 14, 1893.
From the minutes of the County Auditor
under date of November 13, 1893, it appears that the cost of
the courthouse, including furniture, steam heating plant,
the fees of architect and superintendent, electric light
fixtures, painting, etc. was $62,733.90.
In April of 1899, the Board ordered that
20 feet of the tower be removed and that the trusses
supporting the tower be reinforced or doubled. In June of
1899, it was ordered that the tower be removed.
In 1978, a $300,000 remodeling project on
the interior of the courthouse was completed. The Courthouse
was also placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The renovations were done totally with federal dollars: a
$292,000 grant and $309,000 by federal revenue sharing
monies. There was no elevator in the courthouse and this was
the chief reason for the renovation. There have been minor
changes in various offices to accommodate computer,
fax machine and microfilm usage.
On August 1, 1992, the Shelby County
Courthouse celebrated its 100th Birthday. The day
was filled with children’s games, courthouse tours, "home
county" entertainment, food stands and speeches. A huge
birthday cake was served to those in attendance as a finale. |
