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Shelly Coonrod
***image1-left***In 1885, the Hancock County Commissioners took in careful consideration the building of a new courthouse. Almost overnight, the sleepy town of Findlay grew to be a prosperous town due to the discovery of oil. With the population boom came a need for a larger justice center. The Commissioners formed a special committee, and together they approved the plans that created our current courthouse.
In September of 2004, I wrote an article about the building’s beauty, going over the stain glass windows, art, and statues. This article can still be found at www.findlayliving.com. In fact, a man from California that article while searching for the architect George W. Kramer. As it turns out, Mr. Kramer was also the chief architect for the building of a church in California. The man who read my article is trying to preserve that church, and was greatly interested in finding out more information on Mr. Kramer.
Unfortunately, the only information that the County Commissioner’s Office and the History Museum were able to provide was a confirmation that George W. Kramer was indeed the architect responsible for the courthouse, but our interest does not stop there. In a desperate attempt to gather more information, I traveled between the museum and the commissioner’s office hoping to learn more. I was unable to find the kind of information that would help our friend in California, but I did come away with two very interesting things.
The first one is the responsibility of Paulette Weiser of the Hancock County History Museum. She is always my first point of contact, and rarely, if ever, disappoints me. She gave me some great information about architecture in the Hancock County area, and this will make a great article for the future.
The second was pointed out to me by an employee of the Hancock County. The second floor of the courthouse is a treasure trove of our history, right up to the bicentennial. If walk to this floor using the grand staircase and look on the left wall you will find the original “Specifications of the Erection and Enclosing of the Proposed New Court House Building.” It’s protected by glass, but there is a copy of it in the Commissioner’s Office.
I’m repeating this little journey of mine as a reminder to everyone, including myself. History is everywhere, even where we don’t expect it to be and even where we’ve looked a thousand times before. There is always something new to discover. It is also a good reminder of how the past is rarely ever completely forgotten, and can often impact our lives. I look forward to new discoveries of our community’s past, and hope that my readers will enjoy learning along with me.
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