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Morgan County officials are moving forward with a planned $72 million judicial campus, part of a decades-long effort to replace the county’s 166-year-old courthouse with a modern, multipurpose facility.
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled Monday in Martinsville for a $45 million court building that will be constructed adjacent to the county’s current administration building and effectively replace the existing courthouse, which was built in 1857.
The new three-story structure, west of the administration building, will house the circuit court, three superior courts, and the magistrate court.
Once that structure is complete, the next phase will involve renovating the old courthouse on the town square to house county offices that are currently in the administration building and several other buildings in downtown Martinsville.
County officials say the existing courthouse lacks sufficient space for court employees, including prosecutor and probation offices, which are located off-site. The new building will offer a separate entrance for court defendants and secure corridors and improve accessibility.
“We have been one of the slower donut counties to grow, and we’re out of space, so we were going to have to do something,” Morgan County Commissioner Bryan Collier told IBJ. “To renovate it alone would cost $60 million and still leave us with space and accessibility issues, so that to me was not a good use of taxpayer dollars.”
Indiana Senate Pro Tem Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, is set to deliver a keynote address at Monday’s groundbreaking, as will former Morgan County Judge Pete Foley, who Gov. Eric Holcomb appointed to the Court of Appeals last year.
The project is expected to be completed some time in 2025.
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