Workers install new front doors to Washington County Courthouse’s main entrance
Mike Jones
When one door closes, another one opens. And that will certainly be the case very soon at the Washington County Courthouse.
Workers from StoneMile Group LLC spent this week installing six brand new doors at the courthouse ahead of the planned reopening of the building’s majestic front entrance on South Main Street in Washington.
The project is laying the groundwork to eventually welcome the public back through the courthouse’s main entrance more than six years after it was closed for renovations on the grand portico and remained shuttered through the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent security measures.
Crews could be seen hanging the doors this week, setting the hinges and hydraulic closers. The county commissioners approved a bid in July to pay Cecil Township-based StoneMile nearly $200,000 to fashion and install the six brand new 10-foot-tall doors, replacing the previous doors made from Brazilian mahogany wood that had been at the courthouse since its opening in 1900.
“StoneMile plans to have the doors operable next week, but for the county to officially open them, the security upgrades need to be in place,” county spokeswoman Nicole Ford said Tuesday.
The project has been an effort spearheaded by county and courthouse officials in order to welcome people back through the main entrance rather than the side entrance along West Cherry Alley. The original 125-year-old doors needed to be replaced due to extensive weather damage over their lifespan.
The main entrance has been closed since late 2019 when the portico underwent reconstruction and then remained closed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. The entryway near the Family Court Center made for streamlined security by having just one entrance, but officials wanted to reopen the front doors since it has been cause for confusion by visitors trying to enter from South Main Street.
The sheriff’s office and the county’s building and grounds team have been working tirelessly over the last few months to reconfigure the front entrance to improve security features in that area and give the deputies in charge of protecting the building a clear line of sight of visitors entering the building.
As part of those improvements, the commissioners voted in October to purchase a high-tech weapons detection system that uses artificial intelligence to assist deputies when scanning visitors through security. The two Evolv Express Weapons Screening units and two Evolv eXpedite baggage X-ray units from MProtective LLC of York County will cost $94,120 per year over four years, and are supposed to be delivered next month.
“Right now, we are waiting on delivery of the Evolv system, which is on track to arrive by the end of January,” Ford said. “After the systems are delivered, the sheriff’s office will need to do some reconfigurations, set up of the equipment and training of the deputies.”
The system allows people to walk through security without stopping or emptying items from their pockets, which county officials said will make for a safer and more efficient screening process that will reduce wait times for visitors. The X-ray units will also improve screening for the numerous brief cases and bags that visitors bring into the courthouse.
County officials had hoped the front doors would be open to the public by the fall, but logistical and security issues have delayed that process until early next year.