MONROE — Scaffolding started coming down from the Historic Green County Courthouse last week, and it is a sign that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Dick Marti, Courthouse Maintenance Supervisor, said the two-year project has just weeks remaining before being completed.
“It’s very gratifying to see the end; to see such a great building be put back to it’s original — if not better — conditions,” Marti said. “It’s super rewarding to know to finally get complete and done, and to know that the job was well done. This contractor has been phenomenal to work with.”
The project caught hiccup after hiccup in the early stages, which turned a relatively short and cheap rehabilitation into a 24-month project at a total cost about 4.6-times higher than initially planned, from $1.8 million to now about $8.3 million.
The courthouse had 25-year roofing tiles installed in the mid-1980s — nearly 40 years ago. When crews began working in the fall of 2021, they peeled back the curtain and knew immediately that there was much more extensive work ahead.
The leaky roof allowed water to seep in, which was absorbed by the porous bricks. With cold weather the water froze and cracked the bricks. Drywall that was added during a previous project only added to the problem, trapping even more moisture.
“It was either fix it or fence it off so nobody got hurt. At some point, pieces were going to start falling off the building,” Marti said. The county chose to fix it, and money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) went toward the project to lessen the local burden.
As different portions of the roof and exterior were completed, scaffolding around the building was removed. The final bit of scaffolding on the southwest clock tower will remain for another week or two, Marti said.
Crews began removing the top levels of scaffolding last week as the peak of the tower was completed. Roofers still need to install the final portions of quarried slate to replace old and worn asphalt shingles. The slate is from Europe and has the reputation to last for centuries on castles and cathedrals. The county hired Renaissance Historic Exteriors, which had worked on the recent St. John’s United Church of Christ remodel.
The only other hold up is a metal staircase that has to go up several floors in the clock tower. Those stairs, already an 8-week project in it’s own right, will need to meet the specifications of the project engineer in order to be signed off for completion. Marti said the exterior scaffolding will remain to make it easier for equipment and materials to be installed.
The clock tower was entirely rebuilt from the bell to the weather vane, Marti said. First the peak was removed in June 2022, then brick by brick, layer by layer the rest of the tower came down. Eventually, bricks that could be re-purposed were used again, and the tower built back up and the floors reinstalled. Earlier this summer, the peak was restored.
The restoration was not just about fixing a roof and sprinkler system, or replacing crumbling brick. Marti said the project is a 150-year fix thanks to modern construction practices and materials. Some masonry maintenance will still be required in the future, but the hard part of keeping the building standing is done — and the beacon of the county can be viewed by passersby for several generations to come.
“The building, the tower — everything is built better than it was originally. All the deficiencies were taken care of and engineered,” Marti said.
Marti said he’s taken pride in the project. As a Monroe man, he understands how the building is an icon not just for the city and county, but of southern Wisconsin. Built in 1891, it was designed by architect G. Stanley Mansfield in the Richardsonian Romanesque-style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 21, 1978. The famous clock tower on the southwest corner rises 120 feet into the air and is visible throughout much of Monroe and the surrounding highways coming into town.
Most eyeballs have only ever looked at the clock tower from street-level, with fewer yet traveling the skies by plane, and even fewer standing at approximately the highest point in the city. Marti, though, has been able to look out of the steeple time after time, taking in the rare and beautiful view for even just a moment or two.
“When all the scaffolding was up to the top, on a clear winter morning you could see the Darlington windmills and the Lena windmills. After we got light, then you could see the Lena ethanol plant and the Kenosha power plant all from up there. That’s quite a view,” Marti said.
Pleased with the work of all the crews involved, Marti took a picture with his cell phone on Monday and messaged a member of his county board chairman of his property’s committee, thanking him for the diligence and support.
“The project was worth every penny,” Monroe Mayor Donna Douglas said.
