Page:History of the newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.djvu/15



Beaver County, Pennsylvania, was erected March 12, 1800, and the county was organized for judicial purposes April 2, 1803, the first court being held February 6, 1804, in the house of Abner Lacock on Third street, with Hon. Jesse Moore judge. Jonathan Coulter, Joseph Hemphill and Denny McClure were designated to erect the necessary public buildings, and Beavertown was selected as the county seat, under the Act of Assembly forming the county. Two of the reserved squares were selected as the locations for the public buildings. The first building was the jail, the second story of which was used for the Court room until 1810, during which year the first Court house was completed, on the same lot as the present one, but east toward the old jail. It was a one story structure to which an eastern wing was added in 1840, and a western wing in 1848, for use of public officials and to preserve the records. The present jail was built in 1858-9.

With the advent of the Courts and the business of the county officials, came the necessity for advertising such public acts as the law required. There was then no paper in the county, and legal advertisements were placed in Pittsburg papers; and indeed after the establishment of a Beaver county paper, important legal