I love the smell of libraries, which is essentially the smell of books wherever they reside.

When I was about ten I helped get a very old, fairly large, and well built (in the fashion you described for the courthouse), school ready for the upcoming year. I mostly carried stacks of books, and I still recall the smell. New or old they all smell great.

Interesting mention of the cheap labor. Old schools built in that period are also impressive (even in the Southeast).

Most of the old wonders of the world were built with slave or cheap labor. These days wonders are only built with great wealth and they don't usually include public buildings in small to medium cities and certainly not schools. Most newer schools I see are crappy looking structures not intended to last for centuries.