By Mike McCormick
TERRE HAUTE — On Aug. 28, 1884 — about 125 years ago — the cornerstone was laid for the current Vigo County Courthouse, designed by esteemed Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford.
The feature speaker of the day was U.S. Sen. Daniel W. Voorhees of Terre Haute, known nationwide as “The Tall Sycamore of the Wabash.”
Court Square, at the time, was a park surrounded by a fence with a gate. On the day of the cornerstone laying, the gate was locked until a formal procession of bands and other groups arrived at about 2:15 p.m.
The parade, which began at 1:30 p.m., started at Eighth and Ohio streets, marched north on Eighth Street to Wabash; west on Wabash to Second Street; south on Second Street to Ohio Street and east to the gate to Court Square.
Grand Marshall of the procession was Fred A. Ross, Terre Haute realtor and future mayor. He was assisted by American Express agent William H. Brown; hardware dealer Hugo Duenweg; Dr. George W. Ballew, a dentist; Oliver G. Glover of the Terre Haute Iron & Nail Works; George H. Gregory, chief engineer at Fairbanks & Duenweg distillery; and flour barrel manufacturer James Nichols.
The parade’s first division included a platoon of Terre Haute police; the Apollo Band led by Joseph S. Toute and Thomas M. McKennan; Hager Veterans; Thompson Zouaves; Knights of Pythias; Occidental Literary Society; Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen; Order of Retired Railroad Conductors; the Terre Haute Maennerchor and Turn Verein; Mayor William H. Armstrong; and members of the common council.
The local Masonic division of the cavalcade was headed by the Ringgold Band under Jacob Breinig followed by the Terre Haute Commandery No. 16, Knights Templar; Humboldt Lodge No. 42; Social Lodge No. 86; and Terre Haute Lodge No. 19.
The parade’s third and fourth divisions consisted of Masonic groups from Riley, Prairieton and Sanford in Vigo County; Clay, Parke, Vermillion and Sullivan counties in Indiana and Clark, Edgar and Coles counties in Illinois. The Grand Lodge of the State of Indiana and officers and commissioners from Vigo County also were part of that section.
Between 1868, when the dilapidated first Vigo County Courthouse was removed, and 1888, Court Square was barren of structures. The second county courthouse was situated at the northeast corner of Third and Ohio streets.
Before Sen. Voorhees was introduced, the Apollo and Ringgold bands united to play a selection from Giuseppe Verdi’s lyric opera, “Ernani,” followed by a song by a choir featuring the local Davis family and directed by Carrie B. Adams.
William W. Byers, principal of Terre Haute High School, was the pianist.
Grand Master Dr. Robert Van Valzah and Treasurer Martin H. Rice of the Grand Lodge of Indiana adhered to the masonic ritual for depositing memorials in a 15 by 12 by 12 inch copper box inserted in a cavity of a large stone at the northeast corner of the edifice.
The memorials included copies of the daily and weekly issues of Terre Haute’s seven newspapers: The Gazette, The Express, The Courier, The Banner, The Democrat, The Journal and the Saturday Evening Mail.
Other items placed in the copper box included the Charles O. Ebel’s 1884 City and Vigo County Gazeteer; the current issue of “Firemen’s Magazine,” Eugene V. Debs, editor; 1884 Indiana State Normal Register; a volume of current city ordinances; Indiana’s Revised Statutes 1881-83; a member list and by-laws of the Terre Haute Turn Verein; a list of charter members, officers and by-laws of Fort Harrison Lodge No. 157 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the names of all officers of Vigo County from the county’s inception to date; the names of all judges who occupied the bench in Vigo County; and the names of members of the Vigo County bar.
Also included in the box were lists of all city officers, members of the common council and the police and fire departments; a copy of Terre Haute’s first daily newspaper published May 12, 1851 by David S. Danaldson; the local Masonic calendars for 1883 and 1884 listing past and present officers of city and county lodges; a printed invitation to the cornerstone laying; a program of the ceremonies associated with the cornerstone laying, including the order the procession and exercises and the committees; a list of active member of the Terre Haute Maennerchor; a two-dollar note issued by Watson & Shannon Bank which featured a lithograph of the first Court House; a package of personal cards, including business cards; and a $40 Continental bill issued in 1778.
The cornerstone was four feet, 10 inches, by three feet, four inches, by three feet. It weighed nearly five tons.
The east side of the cornerstone was inscribed:
“Commissioners J. DeBaun, J,F. Roedel, J.W. Wilson, Martin K. Lee. C.F. McNutt, Attorney. Andrew Green, Auditor. 1884”
On the north side of the cornerstone were the following inscriptions:
“Saml. Hannaford, architect. Contractors Terre Haute Stone Works Co. — J.B. Lyne, President; J.F. Gulick, Secretary and Treasurer; E.D. Chadwick, Superintendent. This cornerstone was laid by Robt. Van Valzah, P.G.M. of the Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons. Aug. 28, 1884.”
Past Grand Master Thomas B. Long, judge of the Vigo Criminal Court from 1870 to 1882, introduced the principal speaker.
Sen. Voorhees lauded the deeds of many outstanding judges and lawyers who served in the first courthouse “whose voices are now silent,” including Judges John R. Porter, Elisha M. Huntington, John Law, Delana Eckels, James Hughes and James M. Hanna and barristers Edward Allen Hannegan, James Whitcomb, Joseph Wright, Henry S. Lane, Edward W. McGaughey and Usher Lindner.
It was nearly four years before the new courthouse was formally opened.
