Keeping the courthouse beautiful

News-Sentinel photo by Brian Tombaugh Back where she belongsMartin Inc. employee Clint O'Day, left, signals to a crane operator that he, Jim O'Day, center, and Joe Shaver are finished putting Lady Liberty back where she belongs on Wednesday, April 18, 2001. The statue was taken down from its lofty perch atop the Allen County Courthouse in 1995 for repairs.

People who want to keep the Allen County Courthouse looking good for another 100 years can help by contributing to the Courthouse Preservation Trust.

"We've established an endowment fund so that there will never be a lack of funding" to maintain the courthouse in its current state of restored beauty, said Elaine Skoog, executive director of the trust.

Even though maintenance of the building is normally the responsibility of Allen County government, Skoog said the trust doesn't want the county's perennial money woes to detract from efforts to keep the courthouse looking as good as the day it was built.

The trust is also trying to get some endowment money from the Build Indiana Fund, but Skoog acknowledged the state's current fiscal problems may make that effort more difficult. For that reason, she said, private donations are especially important.

Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible contribution may do so by contacting the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust, 715 S. Calhoun St., Room 300, Fort Wayne, IN 46802. For more information, call Skoog at 449-4246.