Benchmarks at Courthouses

[+k5knt]

Last weekend, I recovered a benchmark at the steps of our county courthouse (CB0131). Is this a common place for benchmarks?

 

Kent

[+Renegade Knight]

The idea benchmark is in a place of public accomodation in a prominent location so it's easy to access and has good visibility to the surrounding area.

 

Steps on the courthouse may not be so common but at a public building on the walk way, or on a retaining wall, or on the top of the steps etc. would be.

 

Bridge rails were a favorite spot for benchmarks.

[+Ernmark]

...I think I've found one at the courthouse in every county I've hunted in - many also are "2fers" with a dome or cuploa that is an intersection station as well as the requisite disk on the steps (or wall)..

[mloser]

It is quite common. My guess is that permission would be fairly easy to get--most cities and counties had surveyors and they would be able to convince whoever was in charge the importance of setting a benchmark where it could be easily accessed. They are also often found on city halls, municipal buildings and other government buildings. A number of marks set in Lancaster County in 1979 were set in muni building parking lots and school yards, most likely because blanket permission to set them was given.

[ArtMan]

Last weekend, I recovered a benchmark at the steps of our county courthouse (CB0131). Is this a common place for benchmarks?

 

Kent

Kent,

 

Courthouses are extremely common places for benchmarks, both as a location for a disk (on steps, in the lawn, mounted vertically next to the door or at a corner, etc.) and as an intersection station in the case of a tall dome.

 

Post offices and, perhaps to a lesser extent, city and town halls are also popular locations, probably because, like court houses, these civic structures are considered to both have long life and because the location is prominent and easily described.

 

-ArtMan-

[+NorthWes]

Exercise caution when recovering benchmarks on Federal court buildings. Since 9/11 security at those facilities has meant the US Marshals who guard those facilities generally ask you not to take photos. I was told in New Orleans it was 'against regulations' to photograph details of the Federal Courthouse by a kindly US Marshal, who also advised me that they'd require me to delete any photos I'd already taken from my digital camera if he hadn't gotten to me first... He saw my crew in the park across the street taking photos of the Lafayette Square benchmarks from their video surveillance system - recognized a 'benchmarker' and came out to keep me from getting in trouble. Showed me the mark on the courthouse, but no photos...

 

Tombstone AZ has the classic situation Artman has described - a disk on the steps at the entrance, and an intersection station on the spire (plus a 4-up set of gallows in the back lot, but those weren't in the database ). Great two-for-one stop, and the local post office & high school had bronze marks on their steps too - easy finds.

[+Kewaneh & Shark]

Some of the primary concerns of a benchmark setting is the stability of the mark and the accessability of the mark. Many old courthouses made it possible to address both of these issues - they were located in a prominent location (and easily accesable) and usually they were constructed with very large footings insuring their stability. Many government buildings along with schools, fire stations and librarys were constructed similarly, insuring their longevity. This stability was recognized by the surveyors & engineers who both set and used the benchmarks. The purpose of the building was not as important as he stability of it, but the purpose did help.

 

These are some of the marks I've found on government buildings:

 

Courthouses (Benchmark mounted on the wall with the cupola used as a triangulation station)

GU1072 & GU3368

HS1151 & HS4581

 

City Hall (Benchmark mounted on the wall)

HS5147

 

Post Office (Benchmark mounted on the balustrade of the main steps)

GT0827

 

Fire Station (Benchmark mounted on the wall)

GT0487

 

School Steps (Benchmark mounted on the balustrade of the main steps)

FV2056

GT0673

GT1427

HS1073

 

Library, now the City Engineering Buliding (Benchmark mounted on the balustrade of the main steps)

GU1075

 

- Kewaneh

[+k5knt]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I'm still new to this hobby, but I am finding it very interesting and educational.

 

Kent