The Lenawee County Courthouse is a county

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

located at 309 North Main Street ( M-52) in the city of

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

in central Lenawee County,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site on November 14, 1974, and later added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on February 28, 1991. The Lenawee County Courthouse is located at the corner of M-52 (known locally at this point as North Main Street) and West Front Street. West Front Street also carries the M-52 signage as it turns to form the northern edge of the U.S. Route 223 business loop around the Downtown Adrian Commercial Historic District.

History

When Lenawee County was first organized in 1826, its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

was the newly established village of

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; (March 9, 1768October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the Territorial evolution of the United States, expansion of the United States onto Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. When Tecumseh lost the county seat to Adrian in 1838, a new courthouse was built in Adrian. That courthouse burned down in 1852, and court was held in a series of temporary locations until the funds were raised to build a permanent replacement. However, ballot proposals to raise the funds were several times defeated, until in 1882 the necessary money was finally committed. The new courthouse was designed by

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

native Edward Fallis, who designed many courthouses in several states. In 1884, the county hired Allen & VanTassel of

Ionia Ionia ( ) was an ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of Anatolia. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who ...

to construct the building for $47,460. However, costs were overrun, and Allen & VanTassel turned the work over to their bondsmen, Knapp, Avery & Co. Despite some legal wrangling, the courthouse was completed the next year. Since then, it has served as the seat of the county government. Despite its numerous interior alterations, the courthouse remains one of the most impressive of Michigan's surviving late nineteenth-century courthouses.

Description

The Lenawee County Courthouse was built in the style of

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

architecture, and one year after its construction, Fallis used it as a model for his design of Ohio's Paulding County Courthouse.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 1133. The building measures 134 feet by 108 feet, and has a central tower rising 132 feet above the ground. A main hipped roof is crossed by a secondary hipped roof; the tower rises from the juncture of the gables and is capped with a mansard roof and a domed cupola. The foundation is of rusticated stone, and rises six feet from the ground. Above the foundation is a beltcourse of Stony Point sandstone, and above that is the main brickwork, formed of red brick with white mortar. The building entryways are gabled with large arches below. The arches contain a double window topped by a semicircular fanlight. The entrance is through a set of carved double doors. In the interior, the layout is cruciform in shape. The first floor has a floor made of tiles laid in geometric patterns. Two grand staircases lead to the second floor, located on each side of the center hallway.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Adrian, Michigan County courthouses in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites in Lenawee County Government buildings completed in 1885 Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Romanesque Revival architecture in Michigan Buildings and structures in Lenawee County, Michigan 1885 establishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Lenawee County, Michigan