CITYSCAPES

Old courthouse had charms

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By KEVIN LEININGER
from the archives of The News-Sentinel

This scene, looking west toward Calhoun Street near Main Street around 1890, shows the landscaped grounds of the old courthouse, which was built in 1862.

The present Allen County Courthouse, dedicated in 1902, is justifiably considered one of the city's most beautiful buildings. But there was an earlier county courthouse which, if not as architecturally beautiful, at least had much prettier grounds.

In the foreground is an artesian well, a favorite downtown gathering spot for decades. Surrounded by lush trees, the well was, an early Fort Wayne historian wrote, ``one of the notable features of Fort Wayne, attracting the attention of all, inviting the multitude to partake freely of its waters, which are bountiful in their character and possess medicinal virtues of high repute.''

That's quite glowing praise indeed for nothing more than a well, but it's perhaps understandable. The well took years to drill - water was not found until the drill hit 3,000 feet.

The courthouse itself was completed on July 23, 1862, at a cost of $78,000. But the building served for just three decades. By 1894, The Fort Wayne Gazette was reporting a ``frightful odor'' was coming from the courthouse ``which would shame a glue factory or a slaughter house.'' This was in the days before plumbing, and the courthouse bathrooms apparently were the culprit.

Although many in the city were against tearing the old courthouse down, the wrecker's ball prevailed. The new courthouse, built on the same location as the old, was not quipped with the beautiful grounds and artisan well of its smaller predecessor.

The well, which was covered by an ornate gazebo, is long gone. But the eagle which perched atop the gazebo is still flying - in the historical museum on Berry Street.

--July 24, 1982

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