Greensburg Office Building on the Site of the County's Historic Jail and Gallows
Pittsburgh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, Greensburg, PA 15601
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active county office building; visit during business hours and respect security
Access
Wheelchair OK
Multi-floor office building with parking deck
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1906 · Site of former Westmoreland County jail (early 1900s-1960s) · Site of 19th-century county hangings · April 20, 1830 Joseph Evans public hanging · Adjacent 1906 Beaux Arts courthouse on the National Register
Westmoreland County was established in 1773 with its first courthouse in Hannastown (destroyed in a 1782 Indian attack). The county seat was moved to Greensburg in 1787, and the current 1906 courthouse is the fourth on this Greensburg site. The 1906 building was designed by William S. Kaufman in Beaux Arts style and stands 175 feet above street level, one of the tallest structures in the city. It was listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1978 and is also a contributing property to the Downtown Greensburg Historic District.
The adjacent Courthouse Square office building stands on the site of the former county jail, which operated from the early 1900s until the 1960s. The 19th-century jail on the same site hosted public hangings, including the long-remembered April 20, 1830 hanging of Joseph Evans by Sheriff John Klingensmith Jr., with the Westmoreland Artillery under Major John B. Alexander and the Greensburg Blues under Captain Morrison Underwood present in front of the courthouse.
Later hangings were conducted on the second floor of the prison building, which the input description correctly identifies as being in the area later occupied by the upper parking deck of the Courthouse Square office building. This places the historic gallows at the modern-day intersection of Pittsburgh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Research at the Westmoreland County Historical Society confirms the location.
The Courthouse Square building today is an active county office complex with multi-level parking and government offices.
Sources
The most often-cited Courthouse Square account dates to 1984. Two 911 dispatchers in what was then the building's 911 dispatch center observed a security monitor showing a partial transparent image of the lower portion of a man hanging in a corridor. The camera was pointing toward the hallway in the upper parking level leading from the magistrate's office toward the delivery garage area.
The dispatchers walked to the corridor to investigate. They felt distinctly cold air in the area but saw nothing in person. According to the report, the dispatchers were observed on the security monitor passing through the position of the transparent hanging figure as they checked the area.
Research in Westmoreland County Historical Society records subsequently established that 19th-century hangings on the second floor of the prior county prison building took place in the area now occupied by the upper parking level of the office building, in the section near the intersection of Pittsburgh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The historical alignment of the modern report with the documented former gallows location is the strongest historical anchor among the building's reported phenomena.
Notable Entities
Combine an exterior visit of the 1906 Beaux Arts Westmoreland County Courthouse and the adjacent Courthouse Square office building (on the site of the historic county jail) with a self-guided walk of the Downtown Greensburg Historic District. The courthouse is one of the tallest structures in Greensburg at 175 feet.
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