Sayonara, seal; one county concrete logo is now a thing of the past
This image capturing Washington County’s past is now a thing of the past.
Broken into chunks last week, the deteriorating image commemorating Washington County’s past is now gone.
A seal depicted in concrete designed to commemorate Washington County’s past has itself gone by the wayside.
The circular motif was part of the Courthouse Square plaza until it was broken into chunks and carted away last week. It was replaced by smooth concrete.
The deteriorated nine-foot logo was no longer salvageable, said Justin Welch, Washington County director of buildings and grounds, and cones warned pedestrians to keep their distance.
“I loved the emblem that was down there by the jail, but the lettters were coming off of it and the concern was that it was a major tripping hazard,” Welch said Friday.
Although the seal was designed by local artist Raymond E. Dunlevy in conjunction with the county’s bicentennial in 1981, the concrete rendering dated to the mid-1990s when buildings along West Cherry Avenue and West Wheeling Street were leveled to make way for a new county jail.
A second, smaller concrete logo is intact beside the victims’ memorial garden outside the Family Court Center, and flags at various points around the complex also display it.
The concrete repair project, which is to be completed today, weather permitting, has been performed by MC2-Miller Masonry and Concrete Contracting of Houston, the lowest bidder at a cost of $13,700.
A 1977 Observer-Reporter article described the logo as “a montage of the county courthouse, a covered bridge, an early settler, and an Indian.”
A shiny version of the seal also appears on the dais in the public meeting room of the Courthouse Square office building, and the logo is used on various county documents.
Another change in the plaza was the addition of a curb cut on Brownson Avenue through the sidewalk. The curb cut is under a chain that can be opened if vehicles of emergency services, vendors and the county maintenance department need access to the area.