The E. Ross Adair Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is a historic post office, courthouse, and federal office building located at Fort Wayne in Allen County, Indiana. The building is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 as U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.Building historyFort Wayne historically served as a transportation and communication center located at the confluence of the St. Marys and St. Joseph rivers, which meet to form the Maumee River. In the 1840s, the Wabash and Erie Canal opened in Fort Wayne, and the town became a bustling business center. The population continued to increase when the arrival of the railroad boosted industrial growth. By the 1920s, Fort Wayne was an important city in the Midwest and consequently required federal services. Officials planned for a post office, federal office building, and federal courthouse. In 1928, Congress authorized funds for the acquisition of a site through the Public Buildings Act of 1926, which appropriated resources for federal buildings throughout the United States. Congress earmarked additional funds for construction through the same legislation. Federal officials retained private architects Guy Mahurin, who was from Fort Wayne, and Benjamin Morris, a New Yorker. The building was designed under the auspices of James A. Wetmore, acting supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury Department.
