USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 37
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
windows in the east side of the house, to be placed in the center of the wall between the ends of the house and door; and also two windows on the south side of the building, to be placed in the wall so as the columns shall be of a width; the last mentioned windows to be all of the same description as the first mentioned.
"In the second story, there shall be a row of studding running through the center of the building, north and south, for a parti- tion wall, made of white oak studs and placed within eighteen inches of each other. And there shall be another partition wall running through east and west on the west side of said building, eighteen feet from the south wall; and also there shall be another partition wall of studding running through the eastern side of said building, eighteen feet from the north wall, of studs of white oak as aforesaid, within eighteen inches of each other.
"In the third story, there shall be two poplar or oak girders, running north and south across said building, of ten by twelve inches square, and placed in the center of the building and thirteen feet asunder, to start the cupola on; and there shall be joists framed into said girders, within eighteen inches of each other, of three inches by six. The first story of the steeple shall be five feet; the second story, or the oetagonal part, with the ogee formed dome, twelve feet, with eight Venetian shutters, six feet high. The third story, or the spire and its pedestal, to be fifteen feet. There shall be a wooden ball, overlaid with gold leaf, placed on said spire at a proper place, that will measure two and one- half feet in diameter; and there shall be also a wooden fish fixed near the top of said spire, overlaid with gold leaf. There shall be a lightning rod fixed at or near the top of the spire, and run down on the outside of the building to the ground, of three-fourths of an inch diameter.
"The building shall be covered with a hip roof, drawn from each corner, and covered with good joint pine shingles. There shall
14
210
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
be a cornice put on each side of the building. of eighteen inches wide. with a bed-mold thereon. and to have tin conductors fixed thereunto of three inches diameter. The cor- nice is to be put up with good substantial screw bolts one-half inch square, five to each cornice.
"There shall be three windows put in on the north side of said building. in the second story. over the door and windows in the lower story ; and on the west side of said building. two windows, to be placed over the windows in the lower story nearest the corners of the building: and on the south side of the building, two windows; and on the east side, three windows. to be placed parallel over the door and windows below: all of said windows to be made of glass. ten by twelve inches, and to have each twenty-four lights of sash. The frames are to have parting strips, and the sash to be made one and one- half inch thick, and to be made with lock rails.
"There shall be a six panel door made and hung in each room in the second story. to be hung with good butts. one pair to a door, and a good wrought thumb latch and stock lock for each. There shall be an open newell staircase run up from the lower story to the second, with banisters around the head of the staircase; likewise, there shall be a mill-step staircase run up from the sec- ond story, up into the cupola, at the head of which there is to be a trap door.
"All the aforesaid rooms and inside walls to be well lathed and plastered, except the brick, which shall not be lathed. but plastered only, with two good coats of lime and sand. "There shall be Venetian shutters made and hung to each of the windows in said building. The shutter blinds shall be ten- anted into the stiles, and hung on good strap hinges put on with screws: and shutter hold- ers shall be fixed into the walls to hold the shutters open. and iron bolts for the same.
"The outside of the walls of said building shall be painted with good Venetian red
paint, and all pencilled off at each joint with white lead. The cornice shall be all painted with three coats, with white lead and oil. The window shutters shall be painted green. The doors shall all be painted with a ma- hogany color. The door frames shall be made the width of the walls; and all the window and door frames shall be well painted with two coats of white lead and oil; and the sash also. The glass are to be glazed in with good putty. The doors on the inside are to be one and one-half inch thick.
"There shall be pieces of timber, of four inches square and four feet long, framed on the ends of the principal girders and joists. for the better support of the walls, at snit- able distances from the corners. There shall be senppers made around at the floor of the cupola, to let the water, etc., ont. The col- umns of the enpola to be dressed neatly, eight square. A cornice underneath the dome to be finished in a neat and good manner.
"All of the aforesaid materials for said building to be of the best and most durable kind that the country affords; and all and every part of said building to be done. fin- ished and completed in good style. and the best workmanlike and most substantial manner.
"N. B. The undertaker to furnish every material necessary for said building. There shall be washboards placed around in all the aforesaid rooms, with a base member. And the walls of the aforesaid building, and the roof, windows and doors, and otherwise, well closed on or before the first day of De- cember next; and the remainder of said building shall be fully completed on or be- fore the first of December. A. D. 1833.
"The contractor of said building will be paid the sum of five hundred dollars on the 15th of May next: and the second payment on the first of December next, which, with the five hundred dollars. shall amount to the third of the amount of the whole contract. The second third of the amount of the con- tract will be paid when the building is fin-
211
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
ished, and the last payment will be made May 20, 1834. The contractor shall be re- quired to give bond and security under the penalty of five thousand dollars for the per- formance of the contract.
"The county agent is directed to give no- tice in the Northwestern Pioneer that he will receive sealed proposals at South Bend be- tween the hours of ten and two o'clock on Monday, the 6th day of February next. for to enter into contraet for building of the said house, and that the contractor name his securities in his proposals."
As required by the foregoing order, there appeared in the Northwestern Pioneer and St. Joseph's Intelligencer, for Wednesday, January 11, 18 and 25, 1832. the following notice :
"A Cash Job.
"Court-House of St. Joseph County.
"Sealed proposals will be received on the 6th day of February next ensuing, at the house of Calvin Lilly, in South Bend, be- tween the hours of 10 o'clock A. M. and 2 o'elock P. M. for building a COURT HOUSE in said county. The time of the payment, a description of the building, etc .. may be seen at any time, at the Clerk's Office, by any person that may wish to see them. Security will be required of the undertaker, for the faithful performance of the contract, and such security must be named in the proposals.
"JOHN EGBERT, Agent. "South Bend, Ind., Jan. 4, 1832."
The board met on February 6, 1832, to re- ceive bids on the court house, but found all proposals unsatisfactory; and thereupon ad- journed until the next morning, when the following record was made:
"Tuesday, February the 7th, the board met pursuant to adjournment. Present Aaron Stanton, David Miller and Joseph Rohrer. And they enter into contract with Peter Johnson for building of a court house for said county; which contract reads in the words and figures following, to-wit:
" 'Know all men by these presents, That we,
Peter Johnson, Alexis Coquillard, L. M. Tay- lor, Pleasant Harris, and Samuel Martin, all of the county of St. Joseph in the state of Indiana, are held and firmly bound unto Aaron Stanton, David Miller and Joseph Rohrer, a board doing county business in and for the county of St. Joseph, and their suc- cessors in office, in the penal sum of six thou- sand dollars, lawful money of the United States, to the payment whereof well and truly to be made, we hereby bind ourselves and our representatives firmly by these pres- ents. Sealed with our seals and dated this seventh day of February, A. D. 1832.
" 'The condition of the above obligation is such that if the said Peter Johnson, the above bounden, shall well and truly build a court house in and for the said county of St. Jo- seph, of the following description, to-wit:' "
Then follows a description of the build- ing, slightly changed from that set out in the order of the board made five weeks previously.
The court house was formally accepted from the contractor for partial use, at the September term, 1833; but was not finally completed, accepted and paid for until the year 1837. In September of that year a con- tract was entered into with William Keeley and Samuel C. Russ to build a clerk's and recorder's office, forty by twenty, by way of addition to the court house, which had by that time proved to be too small for the business of the county.
Sec. 3 .- THE SECOND COUNTY JAIL .- The primitive log jail, completed in 1835, did not long satisfy the needs of the county. At the September term, 1844, of the county commissioners, the board ordered a new jail built of brick, in accordance with plans on file; and on December 4, 1844, the building of the jail was let to Lot Day for eighteen hundred and fifty dollars. On December 4. 1845, this second jail was completed and ac- cepted by the county commissioners.
These primitive county buildings, first un- ‹lertaken in the early '30's, in the infancy
212
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.
and weak financial condition of the county, were made to do service for nearly thirty years. After 1850, however, when popula- tion and wealth had increased, when the railroad and the telegraph were here, when "the St. Joseph country" had become a land of farms and prosperous towns, when great cities were growing up to the west and the south, and all this throbbing life of the strong young nation was coming nearer and nearer to us, the people began to look upon the good old court house, "forty feet square, and built of brick," and even to the modest successor of the log jail, "thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide," its "walls of white oak timber, hewed one foot square," as quite out of keep- ing with the attainments and prospects of this splendid county of St. Joseph and its enterprising citizens.
Sec. 4 .- THE SECOND COURT HOUSE .- At the March term, 1853, of the board of county commissioners, then consisting of Gil- man Toole, Edwin Pickett and John Dru- liner, an advertisement for plans for a new court house, with estimates of cost, was or- dered published, twenty-five dollars to be paid for the plan adopted. At the Sep- tember term of the same year, John Ham- mond having then taken the place of Mr. Pickett on the board, plans were adopted and the court house ordered built. Separate con- tracts were let. At the December term, 1853, the contract for lumber was let to Henry and J. T. Johnson; and for timber to Wil- liam Crews. At the March term, 1854, the contract for sash and doors was let to J. M. Vanosdel. At the same term the most important contract. that for dressed stone, to be the "best quality Athens stone," was let, through A. B. Ellsworth, then county audi- tor. to the Illinois Stone and Lime Company, for seven thousand six hundred and eighty- five dollars and fifty cents, to be paid in monthly estimates as delivered, retaining fif- teen per cent until the completion of the con- tract. The stone was to be delivered so that the water table might be laid by May first,
1854; remainder as needed, subject to accep- tance of Vanosdel & Olmstead, architects and superintendents. At the September term, 1855, the various offices in the new court house were assigned; and it was or- dered that the use of the building should be confined to the "courts, county officers and political meetings." In the early days, the court room was the only public hall in the county ; and of necessity it was used for al- most every kind of a gathering of the people, public or private. The time had come, in the opinion of the county board, to restrict the use of the county building to its proper purposes,-the only leniency granted being in
1
OLD COURT HOUSE.
favor of "political meetings"; this, too, be- cause of necessity. At the June term, 1860, the floor of the court room was ordered "deadened," and other changes made for the convenience of the court. (In 1906, when the first story of this court house was prepared for the use of the Northern Indiana Histori- cal Society, the lower set of joists used to "deaden" the sounds below from reaching the court room were discovered and removed in remodeling the room for the use of the Historical Society.)
The new court house was placed near the northeast corner of the public square, facing east on Main street. The building was a
213
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.
most elegant and substantial one, and was the pride of the people of the county. It was thus described in the St. Joseph Valley Register, of April 27, 1854:
"In size the new court house is sixty-one and a half by ninety-one and a half feet, ineluding the portico; two stories high, the lower one twelve and one-half in height elear of the joists, and the upper one twenty feet, surmounted by a eupola fifty high. The stone foundation extends thirty-three inches below the ground and is carried above three feet. The lower story contains all the offices. Entering by the portico, which is on the eastern front, and supported by six pillars, you pass into a spacious hall, fourteen feet wide and eighty-one feet long, on each side of which are situated the various offices. . From the front of the hall, stairs rise on both sides to the second story, meeting above in a lobby thirteen by twenty-seven feet, from which a spacious court room, fifty-seven by fifty feet and twenty feet high, is entered by a door in the eenter. About the middle of the court room a semi-circular bar separates the officers, attorneys, suitors and witnesses from the audience. Inside the bar are the lawyers' tables, pleading table, officers' desk and witness' stand. Still further baek in the western extreme of the court room is the judge's beneh, with the grand and petit jury box on either side, in the shape of an L. In the rear of the court room are three rooms, one immediately behind the judge's bench, for a witness' room, seventeen by twelve, and on each side a jury room, twenty by thirteen, so that juries ean retire, from a door opening from their seats, into their consultation room, without having to pass through the audience. The building is of briek and stone, the inner walls of the former material and the outer walls of the latter. The cupola is surmounted by a town clock."
As this second court house was built on the site which had been occupied by the first court house, it became necessary during its construction to rent rooms for the use of the
county. Court was held in the basement of the Methodist Episcopal Church, located in the same square and just south of the county grounds. The rental was two dollars a day, during the holding of court. When the second court house, in turn, gave way to the third, or present, court house, the county commis- sioners, as we shall see, bought additional grounds on the west of the square and moved that building baek on Lafayette street; so that court continued to be held, and the county offices to be occupied, as before ex- cept during the time oceupied in moving the
OLD COUNTY JAIL, SOUTH BEND.
building, when court was held in the old Priee's Theater, on Michigan street, and the several county offiees were held in the old city building on Jefferson street, between Main and Lafayette. Few persons, though, remember that the basement of the First Methodist Episcopal Church was used as a court room during the time when what we now call the old court house on Lafayette street was in course of construction.
Sec. 5 .- THE THIRD COUNTY JAIL .- AS soon as the second court house had been completed, the county commissioners made preparations for the building of a new brick jail and sheriff's residence, which should be
214
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
in keeping with the court house. This build- ing was constructed in 1860, at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars: The old brick jail, our second county jail, was sold for one hundred and sixty-one dollars and fifty cents to Adam S. Baker, who took it down and re- moved it. The new jail was a handsome structure, two stories in height, and fronting also on Main street. It was erected on lot two hundred and fifty of the original plat of South Bend, which had been purchased for that purpose, for the sum of twenty-six hun- dred dollars, and added to the original quar- ter square donated by Coquillard and Taylor.
A well proportioned tower stood well out on the northeast corner; and the whole build- ing presented a rather imposing, castellated appearance from the front. No finer county building could then be found in Indiana.
Sec. 6 .- RE-ARRANGEMENT OF COURT HOUSE .- In subdivision second of this chap- ter, we have referred to the order made by Judge Stanfield, at the March term, 1873, of the St. Joseph circuit court, for the re-ar- rangement and improvement of the court room. The order was as follows:
"It is ordered by the court, That the court room be re-arranged by moving the west par- tition east to the west side of the west win- dows: that the three west rooms be enlarged and finished up in a good, workmanlike man- ner, with a door from the court room enter- ing into each one. That an additional room be added to the clerk's office across the space now used for the stairway;" and that there also be a room of the same size constructed above the room last aforesaid. with a door into the court room. That a stairway be made from the judge's desk in the court room, as re-arranged, down into the clerk's office, and that the court room be re-arranged so as to place the judge's bench on the south side of the court room; and the bar occupy the portion of the court room south of the
a. That is, the stairway on the left of the entrance; that on the right remained as the sole stairway to reach the court room.
general entrance to said room, and the por- tion north of said entrance be prepared for the occupation of suitors, witnesses and spee- tators: and it is further ordered that the clerk's office and court room be heated by hot-air furnaces. All of the said work to be completed. finished and painted in a good, workmanlike manner; and George W. Mat- thews. Dwight Deming and Thomas S. Stan- field are hereby appointed a committee with full authority to cause said work to be done, and also to furnish and carpet said court room, and that said committee shall audit all accounts for said work and materials and certify the same to the county auditor for allowance and payment. It is further or- dered that a certified copy of this order be transmitted to the board doing county business.
The improvements provided for in the or- der had been urged upon the county board for a long time; but that body was divided as to the expediency of doing the work, Dwight Deming only being favorable to it. Finally the court, as authorized by law," took upon itself the authority assumed in the order. Seldom has so praiseworthy and necessary an act been received with so little favor by the people. The proposals to build the court house in 1853 were received with far less criticism than were those for its im- provement in 1873. It does not seem that it was so much the matter of expense that met with opposition as it was the alleged 'exercise of extraordinary power by the court. The people seemed to think that the work should have been left to the county commis- sioners, elected, as they said, to attend to all county business. The commissioners, how- ever, had refused to have the work done; and so Judge Stanfield was compelled to as- sume the responsibility of transforming an unsightly barn-like hall into a decent and convenient court room, as his admirers said ;
a. See Board v. Stout, 136 Ind. 53; and Board v. Gwin, 136 Ind. 562.
-
Judge Thomas S. Stanfield
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY Astor, Lønex and Tiden Foundations. 1909
215
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
or to change a plain and sufficient place to hold court into a ladies' parlor, as his critics said. Time justified the able and far-seeing judge. No braver aet was ever done by him, none more necessary for the convenience of the court and people, and none which in the end was more highly appreciated and com- mended by the people of the county. It was another instance showing that it is always better to do the right thing, at whatever cost.
Sec. 7 .- A HISTORIC BUILDING .- The sec- ond court house and third jail satisfied all needs for forty years, or until the close of the nineteenth century, when the county offi- cers, the courts and the boards took their places in the present elegant buildings. The fine, well built old court house, of "best quality Athens stone," portico and all, was taken in hand by a house mover from Chi- cago, lifted up, turned half-way around and moved back to front on Lafayette street, all without disturbing a stone or a brick. It was regarded as a fine piece of engineering. Happily, the building is to be preserved as our historie county edifice. Through the public spirited policy of our recent boards of county commissioners, whose membership has been made up of Samuel Bowman, Peter H. Reaves, John D. Fulmer, Isaac Newton Miller, Marion B. Russ, Herman A. Tohulka, Barney C. Smith and Daniel A. White, the enerable building which has witnessed so much of our county. state and national his- tory, has been devoted to the use of the Grand Army of the Republic and the North- ern Indiana Historical Society. The latter body occupies the first story, in which are collected and to be collected all that is most precious in the relics of the St. Joseph val- ley. The upper story, the old court room itself, has been given to the veterans of the war for the Union, where they meet weekly in patriotic and social reunion, recalling the days that tried men's souls and holding out to their children and grandchildren the les- sons of purest patriotism.
Sec. 8 .- THE FOURTH COUNTY JAIL .- Not
only was it necessary to move off the old court house, but also to demolish the beau- tiful little briek jail and sheriff's residence, with its picturesque turrets and battlements, in order to make room for the imposing modern court house that was to take their place. A new jail, the fourth one of our county jails, was erected in the rear by the side of the old court house, and like it, fac- ing Lafayette street. The private residence, built and long occupied by William Miller, Esq., as he was always styled, one of the most eminent citizens of the county, and father of General John F. Miller, distin- guished in the war of 1861, was purchased as a sheriff's residence, and connected with the new jail in the rear.
See. 9 .- THE THIRD COURT HOUSE .- The contract for the building of our present court house was let to James Stewart & Com- pany, October 31, 1896, for $184,246.27. Various expenses and furnishings brought the total cost up to nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The walls are of Bedford stone and granite; and the building is in the Grecian style of architecture. The corner stone was laid April 15, 1897, and the court house was completed November 4, 1898. The county commissioners who were members of the board from the letting of the contract to the completion of the build- ing, and who also removed the old court house and built the new jail, were John N. Lederer, John D. Fulmer, Peter H. Reaves and Samuel Bowman. The board actually en- gaged in the construction of the court house, invited a committee of citizens, among the most eminent business men of the county, to act as an advisory board in the very im- portant work. This committee consisted of Clement Studebaker. John B. Stoll, Joseph D. Oliver, Elmer Crockett and Patrick O'Brien. The people of the county have good reason to be satisfied with the work done under direction of those officials and public spirited citizens. The state board of chari- ties recently made a visit of inspection to
216
IIISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
the county, and our jail was pronounced by them the best in Indiana. Our court house is also said to be, in its interior, one of the most beautiful and convenient in the state. The exterior would no doubt be entitled to a like commendation; provided only our worthy county board would cause the re- moval of the stone wall and bank of carth heaped around it, and which so dwarf its otherwise fine proportions.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.