The Old Court House tower once rose eighty feet above Clinton Square. Today the hand-carved limestone blocks that formed that tower are under the care of the Parks and Recreation Department -- and have been so for more than thirty years.  All of these stones are now shrink-wrapped in heavy plastic to protect them against further deterioration.

Each of the items below contains, on the left, a photo of one of the stones in storage; on the right is a picture showing the position that stone originally occupied in the tower.  A photo of the entire tower is here to help you get your orientation -- click on it to see a larger version.

As a result of being moved from place to place over the years the stones have obviously lost some corners and edges. In late 2001 they were moved one more time to a permanent home on city owned property near Hancock Airport.  What will become of these last remnants of the Old Court House?  Will archaeologists dig them up one day, marveling that a quarried stone building must have been built so far from what scholars believed to be the center of early Syracuse?

Click on thumbnail image for enlargement

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