Other mistake: Aunt Bee refers to losing the pickle contest 10 years in a row (which Clara corrects to 11, leading us to believe they have been in the same competition), but this is her 2nd year in Mayberry, having not seen Andy for years in her season 1 intro as the "new housekeeper", (or Opie - ever) in season 1.
Other mistake: When Andy, Barney, and Opie switch Aunt Bee's kerosene tasting pickles with the store bought pickles during 'operation pickle switch', they put the store pickles in Aunt Bee's mason jars with silver lids and Aunt Bee's pickles in the store's jars with labels and white lids. Their plan is to give away the store jars with Bee's pickles inside, and we see Barney placing the last of the store jars into his bag, but when Barney stops the driver to give him his safe driving award, we see Barney giving away the mason jars with silver lids even though it's the store jars he should be getting rid of.
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Super Grover ★