Wood County Courthouse And Jail

Wood County's courthouse and jail in Bowling Green were built between 1894 and 1896 and opened to the public in September 1896. The courthouse, described then as modernized Romanesque, has thick Vermont granite walls resting on solid rock, a tile roof, and a 185-foot clock tower flanked by six-sided towers. Carved stone on the entrance arch and gables depicts allegories of the law and the county's agriculture, oil, transportation and commerce. Inside are polished marble walls and stairways, bronze railings, frescoes, and a stained glass vaulted ceiling above the third floor corridor. The matching jail to the north is built of rock-faced ashlar stone with a central tower, dormers, gargoyles and a red tile roof. Oil industry tax revenue paid for the buildings, which replaced a hurried brick structure from 1869. Yost and Packard designed them, Whyte and Priest carved the sculpture, and the cost was about $200,000. Both buildings remain unaltered and in excellent condition.