County Courthouses of Ohio

Book excerpt: The first court session in Ohio took place on September 2, 1788, in a blockhouse at Marietta, Washington County. Arthur St. Clair, the first governor of what was then the Northwest Territory, organized the Court of Common Pleas when he established the county by proclamation on July 16, 1788. Law and the courts have played a central role in Ohio ever since. With statehood in 1803 and the growth of communities, the settlers built log courthouses at first and then moved on to more sophisticated materials and architectural designs. The county courthouse literally became the central symbol of each community. This magnificent, lavishly illustrated book presents each of Ohio's 88 existing courthouses through a sumptuous layout of color and black-and-white images. In addition, Susan Thrane provides a brief history of each county with relevant details about the design of the courthouse and highlights of the events which occurred there. Along with discussion of the earliest building, the book presents the existing buildings in chronological order from oldest to youngest. Thus, Highland County (constructed in 1832-35) comes first, and Franklin County (1969-72) is last. This is a book to be treasured by all Ohioans.