Indiana County Courthouse Histories
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Sullivan County
Named for: Revolutionary War General Daniel Sullivan
Organized: 1817
County Seat: Merom, 1819-1843
Sullivan, 1843
Number of Courthouses: 5
| Number | Years | Type | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1819-1843, Merom | Log | |
| 2 | 1843-1850, Sullivan | Log | Destroyed by fire 2/7/1850 - Major record loss |
| 3 | 1852-1872, Sullivan | Stylized | Arch: Edwin May -Norman. 40x60. Completed 1/1/1852. ~$9000. Builder: James Pound & William Reed, $7853 |
| 4 | 1872-1926?, Sullivan | Castle | Modifications and Additions to 1851 CH. William Greenlee? >$60,000 |
| 5 | 1926-Present, Sullivan | Castle | Arch: J.B Bayard, $500,000. Builder: Walter R. Heath |
Carlisle was the temporary County Seat 1817-1819, but did not have a Courthouse, the court met in the house of James Sproule. The house of James Sproule was designated as the location for meetings to fix the county seat in the organic act that established Sullivan County.
The town of Sullivan was founded in 1841 specifically to be the county seat.
Early county records are not available. They were probably lost in the 1850 courthouse fire. Log courthouses were not normally utilized for the length of time indicated by the dates of the one in Merom so it might be possible that there was a second courthouse there, but no record of such a structure is known.
J.B Bayard designed the 1926 Courthouse as well as the present Courthouse in Vermillion County.
At the Southwest corner of courthouse square there is War Memorial Circle that contains three memorials: WWI & WWII; Korea & Vietnam; and the War on Terrorism.