File:Hamilton County Courthouse, Cincinnati, OH.jpg

English: The Hamilton County Courts have occupied this spot at the terminus of Court Street along Main Street for two centuries. Four of the county’s six courthouses have stood on this land, with the first one having been a log building built on Government Square at 5th and Main in 1802, far removed from the present site, where the Federal Courthouse now sits. The second Courthouse, a Federal-style limestone structure, was also located at that site, which burned while being used as barracks for soldiers during the War of 1812. The third Courthouse, and first on the present site, was a humble two-story brick structure built in the Federal style in 1819, on land given to the county by Jesse Hunt. The structure lasted until 1849, by which time it had many additions, when it burned to the ground. The second Courthouse on the site was a structure designed by Isaiah Rogers in the Greek Revival style, and was the largest Courthouse in the Midwest at the time of its completion. The building was constructed from 1849 until 1853, and included a large, limestone jail building to the rear along Sycamore Street. The building lasted until the Courthouse Riot of March 28, 1884, when it burned to the ground after being attacked and vandalized by an angry mob in the wake of a controversial murder trial. The third Courthouse was built using portions of the second Courthouse, with a new front facade in the then-fashionable Richardson Romanesque style, which was designed by James W. McLaughlin. The building was completed in 1887, but was almost the same size as the previous Courthouse, leading to it becoming insufficient for the needs of the county government within a few decades. Planning began with a new jail building in 1908, and the current Courthouse was completed in 1919. The Renaissance Revival-style Building was designed by Charles Howard Crane, and is the largest of the four structures to exist on the site. Today, the building continues to house the Hamilton County courts and government, and is a great example of the Renaissance Revival style as applied to civic architecture, an example of the principles of the City Beautiful movement during the early 20th Century.