Did you know that in February of 1879, the Silver Street Warren County Courthouse was what we would call “condemned” and being called to be demolished immediately???
Thankfully the county explored alternate plans for the building and thought it was important enough to fix. If you compare the images from the historic lithograph dated in 1875 to the updated photograph dated 1903, you can see the structural improvements that were made to the front of the building, ensuring it’s safety for future generations. In the 1903 image you can also see the addition to the rear of the building.
In the Commissioner’s Journal Entry it is said: “the Court House Building in Lebanon said County and find on excavating alongside of outside walls of building, the plank foundations on which stone walls are built has become extremely rotten and thoroughly decayed as to be useless for the purposes for which they were originally intended so much so as to endanger the safety of the building owing to the decay of said timer foundations the outside walls have settled outward to such an extent to crack the brick walls causing them to crack in some places also to strain and break the timbers supporting Copola over court room so as to make the same dangerous and unsafe and from the general condition of the building caused by a general decay of the foundations. I deem said Building unsafe for occupancy and should be taken down this in my Judgement is the best and most economical plan that can be adopted from the fact the entire outside foundations will have to be taken out and rebuilt on solid ground involving the shoring up of entire Building and the taking out of the entire west wall from foundation to roof.” -Henry Bevis, Architect
