The Washington County courthouse was built in either 1886 or 1888 from locally quarried limestone, and the interior is in many ways just as architecturally amazing as the exterior. This is a real-photo card numbered H4H in the negative and marked on the back, "All rights reserved -- The L. L. Cook Co. Milwaukee". The L. L. Cook Co. published large numbers of real-photo views of Midwestern subjects, and regular printed postcards as well. The L. L. Cook series The cards in this series are identified by a number bracketed by the capital letter H. The cards in the series: H4H -- The Courthouse from the Southwest Side of the Square (this card) H5H -- East Side of Square, Salem, Ind. H8H -- First Baptist Church H10H -- Salem-Washington Township High School H11H -- Weir Memorial Methodist Church H12H -- The Courthouse from Market Street West of Brock Creek H13H -- The Courthouse from South Main Street The numbering scheme indicates there could be as many as a dozen cardsor more in this set. This card is postmarked August 9, 1966, and was mailed to me by a friend when I was in college, but the photograph was probably made a few years earlier -- I'm not an expert on cars, but the Chevrolet in the left foreground appears to be a 1963 model. On the other hand, the new Methodist Church card shows a building that was dedicated in 1962, which helps set a limit on the earliest date for the series. These are real-photo cards, but the paper doesn't show a standard back that might help date the cards. It is custom-imprinted for L. L. Cook Co.

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