Dale County AlArchives News.....Articles about Dale Co. Courthouse Fire & Rebuilding Efforts 1884-1885 November 26, 1884 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Carla Miles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00010.html#0002476 April 4, 2009, 5:18 pm The Southern Star November 26, 1884 The Southern Star Ozark, Dale County, Ala. Wednesday morning, November 26, 1884 Page Three FIRE Thursday morning Nov. 27 The Court house with all the Records and Papers of the several county officers was burned this morning at 1 o’clock. Messrs. Blackman, Cassady, Carmichael and Mauldin lost their Law Libraries and all private papers. The origin of the fire is known to be the work of an incendiary. Loss about Ten Thousand Dollars. The Southern Star Ozark, Dale County, Ala. Wednesday morning, December 3, 1884 Page Two One week has passed since the courthouse was burned, and all have had time for calm reflection, and after hearing the reports of the different persons who were first on the ground after the alarm was given, we are thoroughly convinced that the fire was the work of an incendiary. The alarm was given at one o’clock and in just twenty minutes from that time the building had fallen in. When first discovered the fire was near the east door and running up the southeast corner of the building. There had been no fire in any of the offices after twelve o’clock that day; and there is no foundation for the report that it probably caught from ashes in an old barrel that stood near the door, for the writer together with a friend cleaned out the hall and around the stair-ways on Wednesday morning, and he knows there were no ashes there except a barrel of old ashes that were placed there in Judge Richards’ life time, and the fire could not have originated from this cause. The Southern Star Ozark, Dale County, Ala. Wednesday morning, January 7, 1885 Page Three Skipperville Items Mr. Godfrey will make a bid on the building of a new courthouse at Ozark. We have confidence in Mr. G’s ability to please the people of Dale with a good courthouse should he be awarded the contract. The Southern Star Ozark, Dale County, Ala. Wednesday, June 3, 1885 Page Three Local Intelligence Capt. Tye the contractor for the building of our new Courthouse is putting his work through with that vim and energy that is so characteristic of the Captain. He is making brick at the rate of eight thousand per day, and with continued good weather will soon be ready to kiln and burn them. The Southern Star Ozark, Dale County, Ala. Wednesday, October 14, 1885 Page Three The work on the courthouse is progressing slowly but surely. The contractor Capt. Tye, has bad unusually unfavorable weather for doing the work, as all must know, and therefore has not been able to forward the building as he otherwise would. A couple of months of good weather now, will insure the completion of the walls, and a little time more will see the courthouse completed. The Southern Star Ozark, Dale County, Ala. Wednesday, December 16, 1885 Page Three The brick work on the court house is now completed, and it is hoped it will be ready for the spring term of the circuit court. Mr. Dowling Ogletree, who has been working on the court house for some months, has returned to Troy. Mr. Ogletree behaved himself well, while here and leaves a number of friends behind. Additional Comments: Transcriber note: The Southern Star newspaper issues from 1886 through 1887 are stated as missing on the microfilm, so I'm unable to locate additional articles regarding the completion of the new courthouse. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/dale/newspapers/articles230nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/alfiles/ File size: 4.0 Kb