This aerial photograph, from the 1960s, shows the Sagadahoc County Courthouse, and, also, the Soldiers' Monument in the landscaped triangle in front of the building.

The Hotel Sedgwick, which burned in 1973, appears across Centre Street to the north, or right of the monument. In the July 30, 1869, issue of the "Bath Sentinel and Times," an article noted that the nearly completed building "on an elevation overlooking the city, the river, and surrounding country" was struck by lightning the day before.

It "knocked the belfry to smithereens in less than no time. . . The lightning continued on its way, knocking soil and rocks out of the ground, a picket off Mrs. Harnden's fence, and telegraph lines off the poles."

The commanding position of the Courthouse on a granite ridge overlooking the central business district placed it on at the intersection of High and Centre Streets where the building faces the other symbol of local government, the 1929 Davenport Memorial City Hall.