Jasper County in search for ways to preserve 100-year-old blueprints of courthouse and other structures

Inside the vault of the Jasper County Auditor’s Office was a table full of ancient artworks as old as the courthouse itself. Maintenance director Adam Sparks handled the delicate blueprints with great care as he presented them to the three supervisors, who were amazed by their craftsmanship and the level of detail.

Although age had worn down the pages of the documents, the blueprints of the Jasper County Courthouse had held together relatively well, much to the surprise of Sparks and the supervisors. The more they scoured through the materials, the more excited they became. It was like they unearthed buried treasure.

In a way, they did.

During the supervisors work session last week, Sparks showed off the 100-year-old blueprints and even older blueprints of the previous courthouse that stood before the current structure prior to it burning down. Other blueprints of related courthouse structures, like the heating shed, were also found by staff.

“With their age, they’re really lucky to still be around,” Sparks said. “They haven’t really been preserved in any sort of manner besides, I guess, thin pieces of paper, thin pieces of print, the blueprint, that were adhered to thick cardboard paper. Other than that they’ve just been sitting in this box.”

Over the years the paper has now become very brittle, prompting Sparks to seek guidance from supervisors as to what to do with them. Sparks asked supervisors if it might be a project they might want to invest a little money into and preserve them, or do nothing with them which is what has been done so far.

Although the blueprints have lasted more than a century at this point, even in their worn out state, Sparks reasoned that once they are gone, they are gone. Digital copies may exist to ensure the designs stick around, but there will come a time where the original blueprints will deteriorate and fall apart.

“I’m 43 years old and I’ve never seen a blueprint like this in my entire life. Not sure that I will again, and I know it’s fairly special. Like I said, once it’s gone, it’s gone. We can’t go back and do anything to it,” Sparks said, noting he soon will be reaching out to different companies about preserving the blueprints.

When supervisors got a chance to look through the documents, their enthusiasm and excitement matched that of their maintenance director who has a clear passion for maintaining the courthouse. So much so he has practically formed a museum of sorts in the west wing of the building.

“It’s just a place to look at history for all of the public coming in the courthouse,” Sparks said. “A lot of it was buried in closets or in offices. If you weren’t in a specific office you were never able to see it. So now we kind of got it out there in the west lobby with the clocks. Everybody can enjoy and look at it all.”

With the many offices that had moved over the past year, maintenance staff uncovered a lot of old relics. For instance, an old safe in the treasurer’s office has now found a new home in the west wing; granted, the weight made it nearly impossible to follow treasurer’s office staff to the administration building.

Still, it has made for an interesting display along with old clocks and other items sequestered across the live video feed of the clocktower bell.

It could also be the home of the preserved blueprints if the county decides it wants to put them on display, or they could be hung up on the walls in the supervisors’ offices, or anywhere else in the courthouse for that matter. Sparks is just thankful the county has a board that is supportive of preservation.

“That’s the neatest thing,” Sparks said. “Other counties that might not have the money we do and would go the cheap route and electrify everything and do things like that … So we definitely have had a good group of board members that have really always been interested in maintaining things like that.”

Of course, Sparks admits he loves the courthouse, and he wants to make sure it not only is in working order but also keeps its distinctive look and character.

If having the original architectural drawings preserved and on display in the courthouse is going to improve the courthouse aesthetics, Sparks is all for it.

“Anytime I can do anything to upgrade or bring back a piece that was once part of this place, then, yeah, I’m going to be all about that and do it.”