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County to request return of courthouse paintings
On loan to the Putnam County Museum since 2018 and now fully restored, six paintings by a local artist and public official should soon be on their way back to the Putnam County Courthouse.
Also a public official in both the city and county, Elisha Cowgill (1835-1914) was a painter. Six of his landscapes were on display at the Putnam County Courthouse for more than a century until they were loaned to the Putnam County Museum for an exhibit on Cowgill’s work.
In the interim, the spots they formally occupied — two in the Auditor’s Office, three in the Recorder’s Office and one in the third floor lobby — have not been filled.
Courthouse employees have inquired a number of times over the years when they might return.
After briefly discussing the matter Monday during their second July meeting, the Putnam County Commissioners approved a motion to request the return of the paintings.
The paintings were originally loaned to the museum for a display of Cowgill’s work, which also included three paintings plus pen-and-ink sketches and three sketchbooks that had been in the possession of DePauw University.
In her capacity as a museum board member, Gwen Morris requested the paintings back in 2018. At the time, she expressed concern that at least three other paintings known to have previously been on display at the courthouse had disappeared over the years.
“The troubling thing is, we keep losing one about every 25 years,” she said.
Morris said her hope was that the Cowgill works could be on display together permanently.
However, the original agreement was for only 18 months and was renewed at least once through the end of 2021.
In the time they were gone, the six paintings — which include one of the original Putnam County Courthouse (c. 1829-1848) and two of the second courthouse (1848-1905) — have been restored by a Radecki Fine Art Restoration of South Bend.
Besides landscapes, Cowgill painted portraits (none of which are known to have survived) as well as painting and retouching stage scenery and theater curtains and drops.
His civic life included serving as Greencastle mayor and city clerk, Putnam County clerk, deputy in the recorder’s office and possibly county commissioner.
The six paintings in question are:
• Second Putnam County Courthouse (courthouse third-floor lobby): The largest of the pieces, this painting of the building that stood until 1904 is 72 inches wide by 67 tall.
• Second Putnam County Courthouse from the south (auditor’s office).
• First Putnam County Courthouse (auditor’s office).
• Old Mount Pleasant Church (recorder’s office).
• Unidentified house – Long rumored to have been the Halfway House restaurant in Mt. Meridian, though this is doubtful (recorder’s office).
• Unidentified log house (recorder’s office).
Further stories from the Monday commissioners meeting will be shared in an upcoming edition.