HISTORY: Historic Huntingdon, 1767-1909, Chapter 12, Court Houses, Huntingdon County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Nancy Lorz Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm _____________________________________________________________________ Historic Huntingdon, 1709-1907. Huntingdon Old Home Week, September 5-11, 1909. Souvenir Edition. Huntingdon, Pa.: Historical Committee of the Old Home Week Association, 1909. _____________________________________________________________________ 71 CHAPTER XII. Court Houses. The first courts of the county were held in the public house of Ludwig Sell, a long two-story log house that stood on the northern side of Allegheny street, on lot No. 7. The property afterwards passed into the possession of Abraham Haines, and the lot is now owned by Mrs. J. C. Blair. It is probable that after the completion of the jail and temporary court house on Second street the sessions of the court were held there until the building was burned. On August 22, 1794, Dr. William Smith conveyed to the trustees of the public building a site for the court house in the center of Third street. Among the papers of Andrew Henderson was found the original contract entered into by John Blair on May 19, 1795, for building this Court House for the sum of 1400 pounds (The Pennsylvania pound was worth $2.66 2-3). It is in the form of a bond with Thomas Blair and John Patton as sureties. The following is an extract copy, viz: "Know all men by these presents that we, John Blair, of the Town of Huntingdon, Thomas Blair, of the Township of Allegheny, and John Patton, Esq., of the Town of Huntingdon, are held and firmly bound unto Benjamin Elliot, Esq., Lodwick Sell, George Ashman, William McAlevy, Andrew Henderson and Richard Smith, Esquire, Trustees of the public buildings of County of Huntingdon in the State of Pennsylvania, or their successors in said offices, in said offices, in the just and full sum of Two Thousand Eight Hundred pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania to be paid to the said Benjamin Elliott, George Ashman, Lodwick Sell, William Mc- 72 Alevy, Andrew Henderson and Richard Smith or their successors, Trustees as aforesaid, to which payment well and truly to be made we bind ourselves, our heirs, our executors and administrators jointly and severally and every of them. Sealed with our seals. Dated the nineteenth day of May in the year one Thousand seven hundred and ninety-five." Then follows the condition of the obligation which is that John Blair shall build a Court House with public offices on Smith street at the place pointed out in the deed from Rev. Dr. Smith for that purpose, agreeably to the plan in the manner thereinafter specified in the time thereinafter agreed upon, then the obligation to be void or else to remain in full force and virtue. The Court House was to be built of brick, forty-four feet in length and thirty-six feet wide. The brick, forty-four feet in length and thirty-six feet wide. The brick were to be inspected by three discreet persons before being built in the walls. A full specification of all the work to be done then follows. The bond concluded as follows, viz: "The said building to be completed in the following time, viz: The two lower stories, that is, the offices, entry, cellar and Court Hall to be finished on or before the 1st day of November, 1796, and all the rest of the building on the 1st day of April, 1797, the said Blair receiving eight hundred pounds, part in hand, three hundred in the offices and Court Hall being finished and three hundred pounds the residue, at the time of finished the building, unless prevented by circumstances fully expressed in an article signed with the said Trustees of even date herewith. In testimony whereof we have set our hands and seals the day and year aforesaid. JOHN BLAIR [Seal]. JOHN PATTON [Seal]. THOS. BLAIR [Seal]. Witnesses present at signing: Thos. Whittaker, R. Allison. It will be noticed that reference is made in the latter part of the foregoing bond to an article signed with the Trustees. A copy of this agreement signed by the Trustees 73 has been found with the contract and drawings of the proposed building. The Trustees in this agreement with John Blair agreed to pay him the sum of 1400 pounds in the following manner, viz: "The sum of eight hundred pounds, part thereof by an order of the Secretary of this Commonwealth, bearing even date herewith, the sum of 300 pounds, part thereof by a like order on the Secretary of this Commonwealth, bearing date the 1st day of November, 1796, and the sum of 300 pounds, the remainder of the 1400 pounds by a like order on the Secretary of the Commonwealth the 1st day of April, 1797, when the said John Blair engages to have the said Court House finished." The agreement further provided that the Trustees should not be obliged to draw the two orders for 300 pounds each unless the Legislature should by law make provision for the same, and in the event of the money not being provided then John Blair was to stop any further work, after the expenditure of the 800 pounds, until security should be given him for the payment of the 600 pounds. The reason the payment of the 800 pounds was made by order on the Secretary of the commonwealth was that the Legislature by Act of April 19th, 1794, had granted a loan to our county for this amount for the purpose of erecting public buildings, 400 pounds made payable May 1st, 1795. The Act also required that the county should refund the same with interest to the State in seven equal yearly installments. The brick used in the building were manufactured by Michael Africa, grandfather of the Hon. J. Simpson Africa, and the lightning rods by his maternal grandfather, John Simpson, and bore the stamp of his name. The records in the prothonotary's office do not show when this first Court House was first used, and as the records of the commissioners and treasurer's offices are missing from the years 1795 to 1798, there is nothing to show when the final payments were made. The probability, however, is that the building was first used in 1797. 74 The account kept by John Blair showing the expenditures on the Court House shows that most of the building was completed before November 15, 1797, but the court Hall was not finished at that time. It also shows that the amount of expenditures together with the estimates for unfinished work would exceed the contract price by more than 400 pounds. The following taken from this account shows the first work done at the court House: 1795 Aug. 5. To 11 days of Wm. Ross digging at C. House cellar at 5 shillings 2 pounds 15s 0d " To 11 days of Jno. Lindsay at do. at 3s. 9 2 pounds 1s 3d " To 9 quarts of whiskey used in the above work at 5s 11s 3d ________ ___ __ 5 pounds 7s 6d The account is silent as to the purpose for which the whiskey was used. Perhaps there was a jollification at the breaking of the ground. John Blair lived at No. 617 Penn Street in the house now occupied by George Yocum. He was the son of Capt. Thomas Blair, who was a resident of Blair's Gap, Allegheny township (now Blair county) in 1787 at the time of the formation of Huntingdon County. John Blair afterwards moved to Blair's Gap and it was after him the county of Blair was named. He was the great grandfather of George Blair, lately of Huntingdon Furnace. The following copy of the original paper of presentation of the bill by Dr. William Smith, shows conclusively that the Court House had been completed prior to April 5, 1798: "Philadelphia, April 5th, 1798. "Received from Dr. William Smith a bell of three hundred and fifty pounds weight, Value one hundred and fifty dollars paid to the bell founder, Samuel Parker, by said Wm. Smith, which bell the said Wm. Smith presents to the borough of Huntingdon, to be transported to the said borough, the expenses of hanging the bell and of 75 land and water carriage to be paid by Samuel Marshall, esq., agreeably to the direction of the Trustees of the public buildings and by him to be delivered to the said Trustees and the corporation of the said borough and hung up at the Court house erected in said borough for the following public uses, that is to say, for the use of the County Courts and other meetings of the borough corporation, the assembling of the different religious societies in the said borough for public worship on Sundays and other proper occasions; a bell ringer to be appointed by the County Trustees and the corporation of the borough jointly, who shall agree with the bell ringer for his services to the county and borough, and what each religious society shall pay, as the bell ought to be under the care of one trusty person and no other to be allowed to ring the same without his leave and order. Received also from Dr. Smith two small cannon or patteraroes to be presented to the corporation of the borough and to remain under their direction, they paying the said Samuel Marshall the expense of carriage. WILLIAM SMITH SAMUEL MARSHALL." On the back of this paper is the following endorsement: "Dr. Smith's present of a bell for Court House: Not accepted except for the use of the county, the Court House being built for that use alone." The first permanent structure for the accommodation of the courts and county officers, a substantial brick edifice, was built on Third street, South of Penn, fronting northward . Third, then called Smith street was originally ninety feet wide. To afford a sufficient passageway at each end of the structure, seven feet was taken from the lots adjoining Third street, making the entire width one hundred and four feet and leaving the passage ways about thirty feet each. A yard in the rear, extending toward Allegheny street, was set with trees and enclosed by a fence. A hall ran half-way through the basement story from an entrance on the southern side. From this hallway, a door led to the office of the register and recorder on the east and one to 76 the office of the prothonotary on the west side. The court room occupied the whole of the second story, and was reached by a flight of a dozen or more steps from the Penn street side. The "bench" was formed by a wooden annex supported by two stout wooden pillars, one standing on each side of the hallway leading to the offices on the lower story. About one-half of the floor area was fenced off for the accommodation of the judges, lawyers, jurors and suitors. In the space allotted to the bar were semi-circular tables, used until 1882, in the Prothonotary's and Recorder's offices. The room was heated by two immense six plate stoves, cast at the Bedford Furnace at Orbisonia. These were long enough to easily admit a four-foot stick of wood. At the westward side of the door a flight of stairs running westward reached the third story. On the southern side of the hallway were three jury rooms; on the north side and at the end of the hallway were two rooms occupied by the county commissioners. The building was surmounted with a dome, in the ceiling of which was placed a bell used in calling the courts and other assemblages below and it was hung by means of a rope attached to a lever on the bell-shaft. This bell weighed two hundred and fifty-four pounds and bore the following inscription: "Cast by Samuel Parker, Phila., 1798. William Smith, D.D., to the Borough of Huntingdon, Juniata." This building was used as a Court House for a period of 45 years, until 1842 when a new Court House was erected on the present site. The old building fell into the possession of the borough authorities who permitted it to be used for religious and public meetings until it was demolished in May, 1848. The bell which had been presented by Dr. Smith was then removed to the public school house where it was used for calling the children to school until the frosty morning of Dec. 12, 1861, when it ceased to perform its duties, for on that morning it was cracked in ringing. The original papers relating to this court House have been filed by Mr. R. A. Orbison, in the office of the county 77 commissioners, where it is hoped they will be preserved for future generations. By 1839, the population and wealth of the county had so increased as to justify the erection of a new building better proportioned to the business of the courts and the necessities of the public offices. A location on Penn Street near Fifth, was proposed, but the county authorities finally decided to locate upon a plot two hundred feet square, being lots 31, 32, 33, and 34, extending from Penn to Washington Street, east of Third Street. John Cadwallader, an early and prominent member of the bar, owned and resided on the last three lots. Stephen Drury, a clock and mathematical instrument maker, owned lot No. 31. On the 6th of August, 1793, in the days of the State loan, Cadwallader executed a mortgage to the commissioners of the county for the use of the commonwealth on his lots for three hundred dollars. In 1839 the Legislature passed a resolution, which was approved by Governor Porter on the 25th day of June in that year transferring the lien, right, title, and claim of the commonwealth of "in, and to" the lots under the mortgages to the "County of Huntingdon for the use and purpose of building by said county of a court house and other necessary buildings for the said county, therewith and thereon, and for such other uses as the commissioners of said county shall hereafter determine." A writ of scire facias had been issued on the Cadwallader mortgage in 1810, and judgment obtained, which had been revived at various times before the transfer to the county. It was again revived in 1839, when the dept amounted to one thousand dollars. A scire facias was issued on the Drury mortgage in the same year and judgment obtained for three hundred and twenty-five dollars and fifty cents, on which the lot was sold, and bought by the commissioners. A court house was erected upon these lots, the front line being in the rear of the Cadwallader mansion which 78 was used by the carpenters during the progress of the new building, as a workshop. This building, two stories in height, completed and occupied in August, 1842, was constructed in the shape of a T and had a court room and offices for the prothonotary and register and recorder on the lower floor, the offices being in the wings. The commissioners' office was on the second floor, immediately over the recorder's office and the grand jury room over the prothonotary's office. Other rooms on the second floor were appropriated to the use of the treasurer, sheriff, county surveyor, and traverse juries. James and Robert Stitt were the contractors. Most of the bricks used in the construction of the building were made and burned on the grounds. The subject of enlarging and modernizing the court house and providing greater security for the county records had been discussed for several years and several times was included in the recommendations of the grand inquest. At November session 1881, on a petition presented to the court and referred to the grand jury the following presentment was made: "The Grand Inquest of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, inquiring for the county of Huntingdon, upon their respective oaths and affirmations, do present, That the building now used as a court house is deficient in the following particulars: 1st. The court room is entirely too small to properly accommodate suitors, witnesses, jurymen, and the public, and is poorly lighted and ventilated. 2d. The arrangement of the bench, witness stand, the bar, and jury boxes is very inconvenient. 3d. The offices of the Prothonotary and Register and Recorder, and the vaults connected therewith, are too small, and deemed insecure. 4th. The offices of the Sheriff, treasurer, and Commissioners are not properly arranged for the use of the officers and the public. 79 5th. Witness-rooms, jury-rooms, and convenient out-buildings are deemed a public necessity. "It is believed in view of the above facts, and to secure the speedy and proper administration of justice, and the preservation of the public records, that such changes, by repair, enlargement, and building of additions, be made as may be deemed necessary to relieve the above stated objections, and they do so recommend. "D. CLARKSON, Foreman." The report was indorsed by the grand jury at January sessions, 1882, and concurred in by the court. Of the several plans submitted, the commissioners adopted one prepared by M. E. Beebe, of Buffalo, N. Y. At the letting six bids were received, ranging from $71,300 to $93,140.50. The contract was awarded to Henry Snare & Co. at the first mentioned sum. Temporary quarters for the public offices were provided in the Morrison House, Northeast corner of Third and Allegheny Streets, in the month of June, and the work of removing the old building commenced and the present court house was completed in 1883.