Wood County Courthouse

Wood County Courthouse. . , Following a contentious political battle in the 1860s, the Wood County Seat of Government was moved from Perrysburg to Bowling Green and the City's first courthouse was constructed in 1868 on E. Court St. In 1893, this original building. was demolished, and a new Wood County Courthouse was built on the same site at a cost of approximately $275,000., Architects Yost and Packard (from Columbus, OH) designed the Courthouse in a Romanesque style reminiscent of Medieval Europe. (The same architects designed the Bowling Green Presbyterian Church, that burned down in 1919.) Constructed of sandstone, granite, and marble, its massive walls rest on solid rock. An exterior carved mural represents various phases of the "strong arm of the law and its magnificent Clock Tower (185 feet tall) houses a large bell, a family of falcons, and a huge clock which in 1897 was claimed to be the "second largest clockface in the United States." Inside the Courthouse are two large murals (circa 1896) by Isaac Moore Taylor, a City Council member and, in 1910, the Mayor of Bowling Green. His artworks depict the former oil wells from the Village of Portage (west wall) and nearby Fort Meigs (east wall)., Notable events at the Courthouse included President William Howard Taft's rally in 1912 and President Ronald Reagan's 1988 speech promoting the candidacy of George H. W. Bush. The Wood County Jail behind the Courthouse was completed in 1902 and ultimately vacated in 1990 when the Wood County Justice Center was constructed on the eastern edge of Bowling Green. Today the renovated old jail serves as the Wood County Records Center and Law Library. The Wood County Courthouse was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and the Old County Jail received the same designation in 1974.