The Wood County Courthouse in Bowling Green observed its 130th anniversary on Sept. 29, per WTVG, which toured the building with Judge Matt Reger.
Reger traced the county seat's relocation from Perrysburg to Bowling Green. An initial two-story courthouse opened in 1869, but Reger said growth during the 1880s oil boom created demand for more room, leading to the current structure.
The building's Richardsonian Romanesque design, which Reger attributed to a Boston architect who blended medieval and Roman elements, remains visible throughout, he said. Reger pointed to original 1896 features including marble, a floor, and a cast-iron railing that he noted reflected then-new technology.
Decorative details include an east-side angel relief that Reger said gestures kindly toward agriculture and warns commerce, and a lit torch symbolizing the court system's guidance. Two third-floor murals depict an oil field and Fort Meigs, built in May 1813 under Elyseir D. Wood's direction, for whom the county is named, Reger said.
Reger, who has presided in one of two courtrooms for a decade, said the space resembles its 1896 appearance, though a wall and a second seating level are gone. Murals of Lady Justice and a woman with a sword and olive branch, which Reger called a 19th-century war-and-peace allegory, hang above the bench.
Reger said history is embedded in the courthouse by design and described the building as encompassing the nation's democracy and beliefs.