Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Lorain County Courthouse Gets Facelift – Sept. 1963

Vintage postcard
You might remember that the old Lorain County Courthouse was rededicated in June of 2018 (for use as the county’s Adult Probation Department) after an extensive renovation.

But it was back in 1963 that the Courthouse also received a facelift of sorts, according to the article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on September 18, 1963.

The article notes that it was the Courthouse’s first cleaning in twelve years.

Just for a comparison, I took a side trip to Elyria last night to get some “now” photos of the renovated former Courthouse. It’s really a beautiful building.

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I also gave the former Courthouse the then-and-now photographic treatment back here in 2016.

3 comments:

-Alan D Hopewell said...

It's good to hear that the Courthouse is being used for something besides storage.

greenshirt said...

in your 2016 article, the post card showed a beautiful dome behind the courthouse. What happened to that?

Dan Brady said...

A newspaper account in the Coshocton Tribune of March 14, 1942 noted, "The dome was damaged early this week by a high wind which ripped off large sections of sheet metal, a decorative exterior covering.

"County commissioners indicated today, after an inspection of the dome, that they favored its removal."

A state building inspector ordered that the dome was hazardous and should be either removed or repaired.

The former Judge A. R. Webber filed a lawsuit to prevent its removal. In an article in the Dayton Herald of March 12, 1943 Judge Webber "contended the dome was structurally sound and to remove it would destroy the architectural beauty of the building."

But the injunction suit was dismissed by Common Pleas Judges D. A. Cook and Guy B. Findley during that same month, allowing the country commissioners to proceed with the dome's removal.