Square Detective: Shelbyville courthouse square

Square Detective

We notice. You tell us.

Every old map label on this page is a clue. So is the square itself. Look first. Ask what’s going on here, what you see that makes you say that, and what more you can find. Then open the answers, and make your case.

1921 map
After 1921
Still open
How to look

How to look like a detective

Scan the edges. The best clues hide in corners, not the middle.
Look up. Second floors and rooflines change less than storefronts.
Count things. Chimneys, windows, hydrants. Numbers make a case.
Compare then and now. Stand where the mapmaker stood.
Ask what’s missing. No horses? No cars? No sign? That’s a clue too.
Make your case. Say what you think is going on, and what you see that makes you say that.

Case #1: Read the 1921 map

The fire-insurance mapmakers wrote down what every storefront did. Some labels are puzzles of their own.

Find the clue

Where was the fire engine house in 1921?

1921 map detail with the fire engine house at 121 N. Spring outlined in red — 1921 map. Sanborn Map Co., Shelbyville, Sept. 1921, sheet 2, Library of Congress (public domain). Cropped; red outline added by Our Town Almanac.

See the answer

At 121 N. Spring, labeled Fire Dept. / Fire Engine House, next to City Hall at 119. The map notes equipment for the volunteer company.

Source: Sanborn map, Sept. 1921, sheet 2

Dig deeper: 121 N. Spring, building card

Find the clue

Where was the telephone exchange?

1921 map detail with the drugstore and telephone exchange at 101–103 Depot outlined in red — 1921 map. Sanborn Map Co., sheet 2. Cropped; red outline added by Our Town Almanac.

See the answer

Upstairs at 101–103 W. Depot (today’s south-east corner of the square). The map prints “Drug S.” on the first floor and “Tele. Exchge. 2d” above.

Source: Sanborn map, Sept. 1921, sheet 2

Dig deeper: 103 Public Square S · 101

Find the clue

Where were the hotel rooms on the north side?

1921 map detail with hotel rooms over offices on the north side outlined in red — 1921 map. Sanborn Map Co., sheet 2. Cropped; red outline added by Our Town Almanac.

See the answer

On the 2nd and 3rd floors at 110 W. Holland (and neighbors 106–108), under the Dixie Hotel label. The corner at no. 100 / 201 N. Main is the Dixie Hotel itself, with dining room and kitchen on the map.

Source: Sanborn map, Sept. 1921, sheet 2

Dig deeper: 110 Public Square N area · 100 (Dixie Hotel corner)

Case #2: What changed after 1921

Two west-side frontages on the 1921 map are not the buildings you see there now. The 1982 historic-district record names what replaced them.

What changed?

What sat at 105 N. Spring in 1921, and what stands there in the historic-district record?

1921 map detail of the grocery at 105 N. Spring outlined in red — 1921 map. Sanborn Map Co., sheet 2. Cropped; red outline added by Our Town Almanac.

See the answer

In 1921: a grocery at 105 N. Spring. The 1982 NRHP nomination lists the Gunter Building (1929) at 105 Spring St. — a five-story yellow glazed-brick Art Deco building (entry #41).

Source: Sanborn 1921, sheet 2 · NRHP 82001725

Dig deeper: 105 N. Spring card

What changed?

Where was the Masonic Hall in 1921, and what does the 1982 record say replaced that frontage?

1921 map detail of Gunter Lumber Co. with Masonic Hall upstairs at 111–113 N. Spring outlined in red — 1921 map. Sanborn Map Co., sheet 2. Cropped; red outline added by Our Town Almanac.

See the answer

In 1921: Masonic Hall on the 2nd floor over Gunter Lumber Co. at 111–113 N. Spring. The 1982 NRHP nomination lists the Shelbyville Benevolent Lodge (ca. 1930s) at 111 Spring St. — a two-story Art Deco building with Masonic insignia on the parapet (entry #42).

Source: Sanborn 1921, sheet 2 · NRHP 82001725

Dig deeper: 111–113 N. Spring card

What we still can’t tell

Open case

How did N. Spring become Public Square W, and when did the numbers change?

What we know so far

The 1921 map uses odd N. Spring numbers (101–125). Today’s directory uses Public Square W numbers 100, 105 and 110. We have not yet found a sourced renumbering date, so west-side cards stay without a per-building “today” match.

Source: Sanborn 1921, sheet 2 · Our Town Almanac directory, Nov. 1, 2026

Dig deeper: West side · Remember the old numbers? Tell us

← Every building on the square

Cases from the square

How to look like a detective

Case #1: Read the 1921 map

Case #2: What changed after 1921

What we still can’t tell