Fitchburg, Massachusetts

The Fitchburg City Hall was dedicated on January 7, 1853 to replace an aging structure built 60 years earlier on Upper Common. The town appropriated $20,000 for the land, construction and furnishings but all the bids came in higher than that amount. Rather than go over budget, as might be the accepted course today, one of the members of the building committee, Colonel Ivers Phillips, resigned and assembled his own team of local craftsman to do the job. The two-story Italianate brick building picked up an additional four stories in the rear in 1879. A major renovation in the 1960s kept the slender Italianate windows and ornamental window hoods but added the Ionic pilasters and general Greek Revival appearance. Surrounding buildings were not so lucky; all of City Hall’s 19th century neighbors have been leveled leaving it as an island in the cityscape.

West Chester, Pennsylvania

In 1682 William Penn established Chester County as one of three original counties in the Pennsylvania Colony and a Court House was constructed in 1724 in Chester near the Delaware River. Population density and immigrant migration necessitated moving the facility inland.   Between 1784 and 1786 a Court House was built in the village of West Chester on High Street. The current Chester County Courthouse, the architectural centerpiece of West Chester, was designed by Philadelphia architect Thomas U. Walter in the Greek Revival Style and opened officially on Washington’s Birthday, 1848. In 1859 the stone-and-brick Court House facades were faced with Pictou stone.

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

A signature piece of the remarkable Eber Culver, the Old City Hall is located on the former site of the Ross Park Cemetery that was sadly neglected on the northwestern edge of the Victorian business district. During a tour promoting his new book, Mark Twain spotted it, and, disgusted by its neglect, wrote a newspaper article entitled, “Remarkable Dream,” which records the thoughts of a disgruntled resident of the cemetery, though Twain omitted Williamsport’s name. The remains in the cemetery were later moved. This beautiful Victorian Romanesque building is a fine example of 19th century taste. This building is also on the National Register of Historic Places. The statue in front is the Sailors and Soldiers Monument erected as a tribute to the men who served in the Civil War.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

This is the third Lancaster County courthouse; the first two brick buildings stood a block away on Penn Square, then known as Centre Square. The grand building has evolved and expanded through the decades. The oldest section of this monumental cut-stone building was constructed between 1852-1854 in Roman Revival temple form by nationally respected Philadelphia architect, Samuel Sloan. The T-shaped rear wing was added in 1896 from the pen of local architect James H. Warner. Warner, who designed the Central Market, matched the materials and details of Sloans’ original building. In 1927, ow wings flanking the exterior staircase were built from designs by C. Emlen Urban to blend with the previous construction. The cupola contains a clock with four dials and a statue of Justice holding scales sits atop the central dome.

Snow Hill, Maryland

The Worcester County court has held session on this corner for over 150 years; until the Civil War the buying and selling of slaves was a common activity here. The first of two courthouses was destroyed by fire and the present courthouse, one of the finest on the Eastern Shore, was built in 1894. Baltimore architect Jackson C. Gott designed this brick five-bay building with an octagonal cupola wet on an Ionic base which holds the town clock.

Syracuse, New York

After being incorporated as a city in 1848 market stalls were converted into municipal offices and this arrangement served as City Hall for the next 40 years. In anticipation of a new facility a design competition was held in 1889 with eight local architects submitting plans; Charles E. Colton won. He borrowed heavily from the concepts of Henry Hobson Richardson, America’s most influential architect of the late 1800s, by adapting a medieval Romanesque style with rough-cut limestone, truncated pillars, triple arches and a dominant tower. City Hall has undergone relatively few changes over the years, although the main entrance has switched sides since it originally faced the Erie Canal.

Lancaster, South Carolina

This is the third courthouse on this site, having served the judicial needs of Lancaster County since 1828. It replaced an earlier courthouse notorious for hosting the last witch trials in America. The first was a log structure erected in 1795. The two-story building of handmade brick (some 300,000 made by slave labor) with recessed arches in the English Palladian manner was built on designs attributed to South Carolina’s premier superstar, Robert Mills. The first floor walls are solid brick 24 inches thick, the second floor walls are 18 inches thick. A series of double barrel brick vaults supports the second floor and forms the ceiling of the first. The floors were brick but covered with wood in 1892. A ground floor room still retains an original fireplace.

The roof and second floor were seriously damaged by an arson attack in the summer of 2008 but officals were determined to restore the courthouse, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973. It was not the first time a torch had been put to the building - General William Sherman’s Union troops attempted to burn it down but suceeded in only destroying some important papers.

The 30-foot Confederate monument out front was unveiled on June 4, 1909 has the distinction of being the first Confederate sculpture carved in the South. Previous monuments were carved in the North and transported to their sites. The $3,000 price tag was borne largely by the women of Lancaster  County. The soldier on the monument is Captain Amos McManus of Lancaster County.