Howard County Courthouse, Kokomo, Indiana Source: Ball State University
County courthouse in Howard County, near the middle of Indiana. The building is part of the Kokomo Courthouse Square Historic District, which includes structures dating from 1870 to 1937, when this was built.
As reported in the Kokomo Tribune, the courthouse received an official history marker in 2014. The plaque reads:
The current Art Deco style Howard County Courthouse was dedicated on October 20, 1937, and was designed by Kokomo architect Oscar F. Cook. The building now features a stylized limestone entry with bronze doors decorated with the likenesses of Kokomo founder David Foster and famous local inventor/industriallist, Elwood Haynes. Most of the buildings in Kokomo's historic downtown were constructed after the discovery of natural gas in Howard County in 1886 – the start of the famous "Gas Boom" that turn this sleepy farming community into a bustling center of industry. Some of the most prominent architectural styles were built during this period, including Romanesque revival, Neoclassical, Italianate, Queen Anne an Art Deco.
I find it pretty neat that the architect was local and that local touches were put on the building. At the time the courthouse was built, the population of Kokomo was about 33,000. (It’s 45,000 today.)
