County courthouse celebrates 90 years

In 1922, the cost of building a new Crawford County Courthouse was staggering — close to $424,000. The marble work that lines the courthouse’s walls and floors made up more than $81,000 of that cost.

These days, most county and city officials would love to have a courthouse for that cost. But by today’s dollars, the courthouse price tag is closer to $5.5 million. The marblework alone would be worth more than $1 million by today’s dollars.

Today is the 90th anniversary of the dedication of the Crawford County Courthouse, and county officials said that the building has managed to remain a strong symbol of the county for 90 years.

Don Pyle is one of three County Clerks whose names adorn the courthouse. P.C. Tiffany’s name was engraved into the north face of the northeast corner as the county clerk in 1922. Dan Brunetti’s name was also engraved after extensive exterior renovations in the summer of 1992. Pyle’s name isn’t engraved, but is instead posted on a sign on the second floor.

“Overall, it’s held up pretty good. We had an upgrade of the boiler and air conditioning a couple of years ago that was a good investment for the county,” Pyle said.

Tom Ragonese, county project manager, has also been a part of maintaining the courthouse. He remembers the courthouse before the 1992 renovations.

“It was so bad that when the wind blew, if there were curtains, it’d blow the curtains. At that point in time, what air conditioning there was were just window units, and on a building of this size, it did very little good,” Ragonese said.

This is not the original county courthouse. It’s not even the second. The first county courthouse was completed in 1871 and lasted for close to 20 years before a new, Victorian Gothic-style courthouse was built in 1890. Unfortunately, although the site used 850,000 bricks and tons of stone, it began to “crack, buckle and twist” by 1911, and by 1918 the southwest corner was leaning by eight inches. That second courthouse was razed in 1920, making way for the current courthouse.

The exterior of the current building is made of Carthage stone and the interior uses plenty of marble.

“The marble’s good,” Ragonese said. “The basic structure of the courthouse still appears to be in good shape. The stained glass window [above the third floor] was repaired two years ago. It was beginning to sag and was in danger of falling. We had it rebuilt and repaired. It ought to be good for a number of years.”

In fact, both Pyle and Ragonese said there was only one major problem with the building these days — the elevator. The elevator itself is more than 45 years old, which was still 24 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“It’s not gotten any better on its own. One of the pieces of equipment is outdated. We can’t find parts for it anymore,” Pyle said. “It’s hard to find people who can work on it anymore because of its age.”

Last fall, Ragonese and the county applied to a grant through the Kansas Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program to replace the elevator for a total cost of $292,600, with the local match being $73,150. The county did not receive the grant, however. Ragonese said they would reapply in the next cycle of grants.

All told, after 90 years of county clerks coming in and out, 90 years of renovations and trials and county residents, the courthouse remains strong.

“Considering the use of it today in modern times and what it was intended to do for business these days and the way it was used in the 1920s, it’s done real well. We still have to deal with an issue once in a great while. It wasn’t made for computers. It wasn’t made to change very easily,” Ragonese said. “The walls are thick; the floors are thick. Any time you have to do any type of construction, it’s a major undertaking. But it’s held up pretty well.”

Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.