Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1903 — Here Looking at Our Court House. [ARTICLE]

Here Looking at Our Court House.

Messrs. Bartley Hawkins, P. Stoner, J. McD. Hays, V. McCormick, J. L. Randel, G. W. Hanna, T. D. Brookshire and J. N. James, all of Greencastle, were here Tuesday* afternoon, making an exhaustive examination of our court house. The party includes ythe commissioners and auditor of Putnarfi county and several leading citizens, and they are after suggestions for use in the court house about to be built at Greencastle. They were well pleased with our building and its arrangements and will get therefrom some valuable pointers They might copy our building bodily, inside and out, and not make any serious blunder; though they saw the same mistake which we pointed out and fought against when the plans were adopted, of not making one of the court rooms very much larger, so as to serve as a sort of county assembly room; and for the trial of cases of great public interest. Another point of criticism was the women’s waiting

room, which they might be better arranged. Which is true, but that room here was an after-thought, and as such, is best that could be done. But our court house, so far as heard from, is the first to be provided with a room specially for women. The visitors’ talk also indicated that their building, for economical purposes, would have a less ornamental exterior; but too much economy in the architectural attractions of public buildings is a poor policy, after all. They must cut their garments according to their doth, however, and besides such a building as ours, would probably cost $30,000 or $40,000 more now than when ours was built.