PAOLI – The Orange County Historical Society will host a special screening of a brand-new historic documentary, “The Rejuvenation of Our Courthouse.” The showing is set for Sunday, November 16th, 2 pm at the Paoli High School Auditorium.
Society President Robert F. Henderson said the film is a documentation of the clock tower removal of the Orange County Courthouse and its reconstruction. A telling of the history of the iconic structure and a look at how the downtown square helped shape the cultural identity of the people who call this place home. Henderson said the Society was tasked by the Orange County Commissioners after the devastating tornado struck in 2023 to somehow capture and document the extensive restoration efforts to the landmark made necessary by the storm damage.
It was a little past 12:30 am on August 7th, 2023, when an EF1 tornado hit the town of Paoli, damaging many buildings in town, including the Orange County Courthouse. With its clock tower knocked askew, it was determined that the courthouse belfry, clock, and cupola would need to be removed and rebuilt. Repairs to the historic Courthouse clock tower and roof would cost about $1.5 million.
The Society approached Duane Busick to assist them with the daunting assignment, who, in turn, has created an incredible piece of film that will be invaluable to the next generation of Orange Countians and historians alike.
Fast forward a little more than two years, and the citizens of Orange County, Indian, are not only celebrating the completion of the courthouse restoration project but also commemorating the 175th anniversary of the 1850 completion of the construction of the Orange County Courthouse in the downtown public square in Paoli.
Busick said, “This presentation shows my video documentation of the courthouse tower removal and replacement, while providing historical data about the courthouse from a variety of sources. Books on the history of the county and the courthouse written by Paoli attorney Arthur Dillard, photos of the downtown taken by LIFE magazine photographer Peter Stackpole during the week he spent in Paoli at the end of November 1947, Oral history recordings done of Paoli residents in the late 1980s by Indiana University and many photos and information from many social media posts about the courthouse.”
“On January 11, 2024, as I watched the 550-pound Courthouse bell, forged in 1852, being lifted out of the Orange County Courthouse tower and lowered to the ground, the last lines from the poem ‘No man is an island ‘came to mind: ‘never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” Thinking about who the bell in the courthouse might be tolling for caused me to reflect on some of the notable persons who’ve played prominent roles in the history of the courthouse. But the most important folks for whom the bell tolls are us, the people who call this place home, the current and past citizens of Orange County.”
Busick added, “It was people of Orange County who came up with the funding in the 1850s to allow Asa Black to purchase the original courthouse clock and bell. We were the ones who fell in love with this grand building and helped it survive fires and storms. We made the courthouse square a place of pride, where we could gather while doing our weekly trading or for weekly summer concerts in the bandstand, or come out in December to see the work the Paoli Jaycees did to decorate the town square for Christmas. It was Orange Countians whose unrelenting interest in history that has, in the last decade, refused to allow the iron bridge to be destroyed and now have saved and restored this magnificent courthouse.”
Henderson said he hopes the public will join Society members for this special community event. Admission will be free. Henderson also shared that plans were underway for commemorative DVDs to be made available of the documentary for purchase through the Orange County Historic Museum.
