HISTORY OF
THE WAYNE COUNTY COURTHOUSE
AND COURTHOUSE ANNEX
The Courthouse of 1878, Wayne County’s best-known symbol
and most outstanding architectural landmark, is the latest in a succession
of buildings that have housed Wayne County’s court system since pioneer
days.
Shortly after the county was organized on January 4, 1812, the first court
session was held in a log shanty built by one of Wooster’s founders,
John Bever. The structure, located on East Liberty Street, housed a livery
stable operated by a Mr. Weed, known to local townsfolk as “Fin.”
The following year, in 1813, the March term of the court was held at the
log house of Joshia Crawford in Wooster. In 1814 a frame structure attached
to the rear of First Baptist Church in Wooster came into use for court
sessions, rented by the county for $50 per year.
The county’s first real courthouse was erected in 1819 by Wooster
founders John Bever, William Henry and John Larwill. Building a courthouse
was one of the conditions of a deal that allowed the county seat to be
moved from its original location in Madison (located atop what is today
known as Madison Hill) to Wooster. The three-story brick structure, which
incorporated a gallery, was occupied by county offices and Freemason organizations.
In 1823, John Bever donated a bell for the structure’s bell tower.
The courthouse burned in 1828 during a term of the court, and some county
records were lost.
The second courthouse was built between 1831 and 1833 on the site of the
first courthouse at a cost of $7,200. Designed by an architect named Mr.
McCurdy, it was a square brick structure two stories tall with arched
door openings, six-over-six window sash with shutters, and a central bell
tower topped by a dome and high spire. The roof of the structure was covered
with lead. In its day, it was considered to be one of the most architecturally
outstanding courthouses in the state. Decorating the spire were an iron
weathervane and two balls that were made of copper. The copper balls were
gilded and bronzed. Crafted by John Babb of Wooster at a combined cost
of $15.00, the large ball was 24 gallons and three quarts in size, while
the smaller one was one-and-a-half gallons. The structure was condemned
in 1877 after 44 years of service due to rotting timbers and “defective
walls.”
Public meetings began on Feb. 16 and 18, 1878 on building a new county
courthouse, and $75,000 was appropriated for the project. John McSweeney
and John P. Jeffries served as chairmen for the undertaking. While the
new courthouse was under construction, court was held in the France’
Hall, built in 1870. That building was eventually incorporated into the
west section of Freedlander’s Department Store.
The cornerstone-laying ceremonies for the present courthouse took place
on Oct. 9, 1878. Architect for the project was Thomas Boyd of Pittsburgh,
Pa., who enjoyed a regional reputation. Boyd designed the structure in
a style known as Second Empire, named for the reign of Napoleon III of
France. At the time the architectural style was the rage in the United
States. A close architectural relative of the Wayne County Courthouse
is Philadelphia City Hall, built in 1871.
To do the extensive stonework needed on the courthouse, Boyd brought in
a group of itinerant Italian stonemasons. It was they who carved—among
the myriad of other architectural details—the four huge figures of
Atlas which support the entablatures and pediments over the south and
east entranceways. These figures were carved from solid blocks of stone
that had already been set in place in the structure. Boyd topped the courthouse
with a mansard-style roof, then in vogue, which permitted usable space
on the top floor.
Interestingly, only half of the courthouse as it was originally designed
was built, undoubtedly much to the frustration of its architect. As originally
conceived, the bell tower was to stand at the center of a largely symmetrical
structure; however, the North Courthouse Annex Building had been constructed
in 1868 and it remained in excellent condition. Frugal Wayne Countians
refused to tear the building down to accommodate what they viewed as the
whim of the architect. The resulting asymmetry of the building serves
as a reminder that the ideals of design are not always supported by the
reality of economics.
The court returned to the site in June of 1879 when the work was finished.
When the courthouse was completed, it was felt that the space was not
properly divided with respect to its space and rooms. In 1910 the county
commissioners spent $10,000 to alter the interior layout.
In July 1960, after running continuously for 81 years, the clock was stopped
for three days during which it underwent a major cleaning and overhaul.
By 1974 the striking hammer had been hitting the bell in the same spot
for 95 years. A consultant recommended that the bell be turned 180 degrees
and that the striking hammer be bored and a magnesium-bronze plug be inserted
to strike the bell rather than the original cast steel hammer face. As
a consequence, the bell now has a fuller tone and its resonance has been
improved.
Since 1889 the clock has had seven keepers. During the first half of the
20th century three generations of the Long family were among those taking
care of the clock. The longest-serving caretaker of the clock is George
J. Riehl of Wooster who has maintained the timepiece since 1952. All those
who have taken care of the clock have etched their names and dates on
the door frame of the clock works.
In September, 1989, the courthouse’s tower began being illuminated
at night by large yellow low-sodium spotlights placed on the roofs of
surrounding buildings. The lighting plan was conceived by Main Street
Wooster, Inc. and implemented with the assistance of the General Electric
Company. The result is that the courthouse can now be seen at night on
the Wayne County landscape from a great distance, looking like a large
candle towering over the city’s other lights which spread out into
the countryside.
Over 177 years, the courthouse has undergone few renovations that disturb
its original 19th century character. The recently completed renovation
of Courtroom No. 1 to return it to its original character is indicative
of the county’s ongoing commitment to preserving this outstanding
structure so that it can continue to play the vital day-to-day role for
which it was designed in the life of Wayne County.
HISTORY OF THE AMSTER BUILDING
A. “The Iron Block”
One of the earliest structures that survives in downtown Wooster –
as well as one of the city’s most interesting from an architectural
perspective – is the Amster Building, located immediately west of
the courthouse. This stately red brick structure with hand-cut stone trim
is assumed to have been built in the late 1840s or early 1850s as a commercial
block. With its stone-capped pilasters separating its eight bays of symmetrical
windows on the upper two floors, the original structure reflected the
Greek Revival style that was highly popular across northeast Ohio at the
time.
The building was originally constructed by local businessman John H. Kauke
as a three-story edifice having a low-crowned roof that actually looked
flat from some angles. A series of decoratively cast square iron support
columns along the front of the structure resulted in its being called
the “Iron Block” for many years.
B. The Frick Era
In 1865 Jacob Frick, one of Wooster’s leading businessmen, purchased
the Iron Block which at that time housed the Jacobs Hardware Store. An
ambitious young entrepreneur, Frick by the age of 30 had already been
involved in a variety of successful business ventures in Hancock County,
including merchandising produce and dry goods. Seeking new opportunities
Frick and his wife, the former Elizabeth Shelly, moved to Smithville in
1859, establishing a grain and milling business. Frick moved that operation
to Wooster in 1865.
Jacob Frick added both his name and a fourth floor to the Iron Block in
1889. A Victorian mansarded roof was utilized to add height to the building
which had been somewhat dwarfed by the construction of the present-day
Wayne County Courthouse in 1879 and the impressively ornamented Memorial
Building (presently Freedlander’s Department Store) to the west which
Frick had purchased in 1886. With its mansarded roof crowned by a row
of sheet iron cresting all the way across, the building pleasingly combined
two entirely different and contrasting architectural conventions.
The ground floor of the Frick Building was leased steadily during the
1800s. Among the numerous emporiums that occupied what at the time was
considered to be the city’s best business location were the Jacobs
Hardware Store, Harding & Jones Hardware Store, the D.B. Ihrig Grocery
Store which was famous for its fresh and canned oysters, and the grocery
store of McClarran and Caskey which specialized in foreign and domestic
fruits, as well as china and lamps. The upper floors of the building were
typically occupied by lawyers, real estate firms and insurance agencies.
C. The Amster Era
One business in the Frick Building faltered in the 1890s and faced bankruptcy.
Word of that reached the attention of Nick Amster, a young clothier in
Galion, Ohio. Amster, who had arrived in America from Czechoslovakia in
1888 at the age of 14, had worked ambitiously to learn both the language
and the clothing business. Amster, acting on the advice of Frick –
who was a banker by this time – purchased the business and its stock
of goods and moved to Wooster. At age 24, Amster, the new proprietor,
had only two friends in town – the sheriff and Mr. Frick.
The Nick Amster Store was remodeled and expanded in 1907, becoming one
of the largest men’s clothing establishments in the northeast Ohio
area. After Jacob Frick’s death, Amster was able to purchase the
structure from his estate. Eventually, the property passed on to Amster’s
daughter, Julia Amster Fishelson, who in January 1995 leased the property
to the Wayne County Board of Commissioners with a 10-year option to purchase
it.
During the 1960s and 1970s, some of the space in the Frick Building was
leased by Freedlander’s Department Store for warehouse space, workrooms,
tailoring operations and part of it for Toyland which many a child who
grew up in Wooster can remember visiting as a highlight of the Christmas
season.
The county commissioners purchased the building from Fishelson in 1997
and 1998 began a multi-million dollar renovation of the structure to meld
it with the Wayne County Courthouse and relocate the county’s law
library there, along with offices for a variety of other county operations.
As a part of the remodeling of the historic structure’s façade,
a period-appropriate stone entranceway was constructed at street level
and the windows facing Liberty Street were replaced with more authentic
locking six-over-six pane sashes.
While many of the original interior accoutrements of the structure were
lost to the remodeling, including an elegant black walnut grant staircase
that ran from the first to the second floor and other walnut interior
woodwork, one interesting piece of the building’s history was preserved.
At the rear of the law library can be seen the original hand-forged gear-work
for a hoist mechanism used to unload items from horse-drawn wagons parked
in the alleyway behind the building and haul them to the upper floors
of the structure. This hoist would certainly have seen its share of use
during the many years of the 19th century that the Frick Building served
as a hardware store. The windows in the center of the rear wall of the
law library were originally the opening for massive wooden chevron-paneled
loading doors. The third floor had another set of loading doors. Those
original doors are preserved by the Wayne County Historical Society along
with the iron posts from the front of the building and other miscellaneous
items found during the renovation process.
Regardless of whether one refers to this venerable and picturesque structure
as the Iron Block, Frick Building or Amster Building, it is a structure
that has figured prominently in Wooster’s past, and it destined to
play an important role in the community’s future as well.
Compiled by:
K. William Bailey
Paul G. Locher
Carol White Millhoan
May 15, 2000