Rensselaer Adventures

This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Paying taxes

Last week I went to the court house to pay my property taxes and took advantage of the opportunity to take a few pictures inside. I have had many posts where the court house appears in pictures (for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). The court house is our most impressive building from an architectural perspective--nothing else is really close, and it dominates the downtown, so it is not surprising that it has appeared in many pictures.
The court house entrance from the Washington Street side is the most impressive. Stairs go up and down. The old light fixtures (I assume that they are old, though they may be modern recreations) are cute even though some have the new, electricity-saving bulbs that do not look right.
In the lowest level are several offices and public restrooms. There is an elevator that goes up to the court rooms on the top floor, and while I was there a prisoner was being escorted up. I did not take a picture.
Actually, there is a lower level, the tornado shelter level. The door was open and I was tempted to go down and snap a few pictures, but I decided it was a good day to be a coward.
Here we are going up the fancy staircase to the second level. The treasurer's office is here, and that is where I paid my property tax bill.
Looking back down the stairs, you can see the cut-glass windows that I thought were impressive enough to photograph.The auditor's office had stain glass windows between it and the hallway.
Here is a close-up of one.
I went up the the third floor to see if I could get some pictures of the court rooms, which I recall from being summoned for jury duty were very impressive. But it looked like court was in session and I decided it might not be a good time to be trying to take pictures. Maybe some other day. And maybe some other day I will take the time to do the research so that I will have better text to go with the pictures.

1 comment:

reMark said...

I think it is noteworthy that the official symbol of Jasper County has been captured in one of your pictures. The stained glass above the Treasurer's Office of a bundle of wheat in a field is the official symbol.

If you go back to the courtroom view, which I recommend (and see if you can get a tour) On the landing there is a beautiful painting or glass work of it that is much larger. I think it is painted, but don't remember for sure.