Liberty, Indiana

May 19, 2006

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Liberty, Indiana (population 2,000) is the seat of Union County. The 1890-189 limestone courthouse was designed by George W. Bunting of Indianapolis. H designed eight Indiana courthouses, but only this one and the Wells County Courthouse at Bluffton are Romanesque.
In July, 1891, after the building was complete and occupied, the 100-foot tower collapsed. There were no reported injuries, but reconstruction took almost nine months.

Ambrose E. Burnside was born in Liberty in 1824 (Some sources erroneously say Liberty, Maryland; the error is traceable to an 1882 biography by Ben Perley Poore). As an adult he moved to Rhode Island and served a brief, not-illustrious military career there. In 1853 he invented a breech-loading carbine, but the army rejected it and he went into bankruptcy. Later, during the Civil War, his creditors made millions from the patent.

Photo by Matthew Brady ca. 1862
Found on Wikipedia

In the Civil War, Burnside attained the rank of Major General in the Union Army, but resigned his commission after mismanaging the attack on Petersburg, Virginia. After his resignation he served three terms as governor of Rhode Island and was serving that state in the United States Senate at the time of his death in 1881.

His name became associated with the style of facial hair now known as sideburns.

The courthouse was undergoing renovation at the time these photos were taken, and I wasn't able to go inside.