Estate donates $300K to trust for courthouse's preservation

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - The estate of a woman who died this year has donated $300,000 toward maintaining a historic northeastern Indiana courthouse.

The gift from Patricia Barrett's estate will be placed in a restricted endowment to sustain the Allen County Courthouse Preservation Trust, which led a $9 million renovation of the 115-year-old building that was completed in 2002.

The News-Sentinel reports the donation will allow the trust to continue its mission of overseeing the courthouse in downtown Fort Wayne without asking the community for more money.

Patricia Barrett died earlier this year. She and her husband, James Barrett III, had donated $100,000 to the trust.

He died in 2011 and his grandfather was the county's attorney when the courthouse was erected and dedicated in 1902.

The Beaux-Arts-style building is a National Historic Landmark.

___

Information from: The News-Sentinel, http://www.news-sentinel.com/ns