Continuity mistake: At the start, Opie and his friend rush to the front door of the same house to try and sell their products - note the house next door (and the fact that it's three houses down from Andy). The kids then run across the street and have the door slammed in their faces, but then it cuts to the woman next door as she walks to her front door - note the house behind her is that first house Opie went to, even though all the boys just crossed the street a few moments ago.
Visible crew/equipment: At the end, when Barney's talking to all the boys at the courthouse, the camera angle's looking up in Barney's closeups, and the top of the courthouse set is visible right before Barney mentions "intimidation."
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 ★