Sheriff’s Office Celebrates 200 Years of Service with New Badge

Hamilton County is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is celebrating two-hundred years of a tradition of service to the Hamilton County community. The agency is celebrating with a special 200th Anniversary Bicentennial Badge that officers will be wearing on their uniforms.

The first of two important characteristics that distinguish the Office of Sheriff from other law enforcement agencies are is its historical roots. In England, the sheriff came into existence around the 9th century. This makes the sheriff the oldest continuing, non-military, law enforcement entity in history.

In early England, the land was divided into geographic areas between a few individual kings – these geographic areas were called shires. Within each shire there was an individual called a reeve, which meant guardian. This individual was originally selected by the community to be their informal social and governmental leader.

The kings observed how influential this individual was within the community and soon incorporated that position into the governmental structure. The reeve soon became the Kings appointed representative to protect the King’s interest and act as mediator with people of his shire.

Through time and usage, the words shire and reeve came together to be shire-reeve, guardian of the shire and eventually the word sheriff, as we know it today.

Governor William Hendricks appointed the first Hamilton County Sheriff, William P. Warrick, in 1823. Sheriff Warrick was paid a salary of $26.50 for his service in his first year. The very first HCSO Jail was built in 1824, made from logs, on the east bank of the White River just north of the old cemetery in Noblesville. The cost of the twenty-one-foot-long two apartment jail was $300.00.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s residence and jail was built in 1875-1876 and is a Second Empire style brick and limestone building. It consists of the two-story, ell-shaped jailer’s residence, with a cellblock attached at the rear. It features a three-story square tower.

This historic building served as the Sheriff’s Residence and the Jail until 1977. The Jail is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the 1876 Museum houses items of county historic interest, restored Victorian rooms, a research library, and jail cells which once housed the infamous Charles Manson and Ku Klux Klan leader, D.C. Stephenson.

The tradition of service continues today under Hamilton County Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush and his staff.