Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/399

 HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��court house and jail to be erected, and filed the same for inspection of all such persons as may wish to undertake the building of the same."

On the 9th of July, 1816, " the Commissioners proceeded to sell at public auction the building of the court house and jail, which was struck off to Jacob Snider and Lewis Lyberger at $1,990, they being the lowest bidders, who gave bond with Peter Snider and Andrew Newman as securities, in the sum of $3,980, conditioned for the faithful performance of their undertaking, agreeable to the which is fully delineated in said bond."'

On the 3d day of December, 1816, by order of the Commissioners, "the two block-houses standing on the public square were set up at public auction, and wex'e bid off as follows : The hewn-log house to Alexander Curran, at $56.40 ; and the round-log house to Jacob Snider, at $20 — who severally obligated themselves to pa}^ the said sums into the county treasury."

Thus was the first seat of justice in Richland Count}' — which was erected without cost, and with onl}' the labor of a squad of soldiers — dis- posed of for a paltr}^ sum, torn down, and prob- ably compelled to descend from the proud po- sition of a seat of justice of a great count}', to do duty as a corn-crib or pig-sty.

The new court house was built of hewn logs. The logs were one foot square, and were laid up in double tiers one foot apart, and the space filled in with stone up to the second story. The first story was used as a jail ; and the second story was the court roonj. When the jury went out to deliberate, they were accommodated with quarters in some private house or barn. This court room was also used for a town hall, and for religious meetings and Sunday school. It was, in fact, the only public building for about ten years, while the village was gather- ing around it, and was used for public meet- ings of any and eveiy kind. This building is more fully described in a quotation from a letter of Rev. James Rowland, published in the

��chapter containing the pioneer history of Mans- field. This may be called the second court house, though it was the first one built exclu- sively for that purpose.

As population, wealth and business increased, it began to be felt and talked, that a larger and more modern structure must be erected, and in 1827, this culminated in the erection of a brick court house at the very moderate cost of $3,000. During the time occupied in the erection of this building, court was held in an old frame warehouse, which stood on the southeast cor- ner of Second and Main streets. This brick was number three, and stood about the center of the north side of the square, near where the hewed block-house stood, and its form and proportions have not yet faded from the memo- ries of the people of the city. It was a very plain brick house, square, and, at first, but two stories in height. Those who have use for a court house were about twenty-four years in getting ashamed of this building, or at least suf- ficiently ashamed of it to demand a change. It answered all the purposes of a court house for that length of time, but for some reason it never exactly suited, and it was decided in 1851 to make it more imposing. That is about all that can be said of the addition ; it was of no value as a part of a court house, but perhaps it did make it more imposing. A third story was added, which was never used, and this third story was extended beyond the original build- ing on the north and south sides, and for the support of this extension, heavy brick columns were erected. About $15,000 was the cost of this addition, no doubt intended to improve the architecture of the old building, but if such was the object, it cannot be called a brilliant success.

The following extract is from the Mansfield Herald of January 23, 1873, about the time the new court house was dedicated and the old one was being demolished :

"On the 7th of February, 1851. the Board of Commissioners adopted a plan presented b}'

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