The building on the left is the former Courthouse annex that once stood at Fourth and Vine streets, next to the old Vanderburgh County jail and on the site of Evansville’s first graveyard.
Although the spire had been removed years earlier, there is still evidence that the annex was once a church, most notably the upper windows, which were originally three tall stained glass panels. Dedicated in 1867 by the German Methodist Episcopal Church, anti-German sentiment in World War I prompted a name change to Fourth Street Methodist Episcopal Church in 1917.
The congregation merged with another church in 1937, and the city renovated the building for use as an annex. After the Civic Center opened in 1969, the annex was vacated and razed four years later.
