Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter XXV The Removal Of The Court House To Bennettsville 1897
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Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER XXV.
THE REMOVAL OF THE COURT-HOUSE TO BENNETTSVILLE.

  Two causes led to this event: the increase of population in the central and
eastern portion of the District, and the unhealthfulness of the "old
court-house" locality, on account of the nearness of the Pee Dee swamps.
Accordingly, on December 14th, 1819, an Act was passed by the Legislature
directing that "a new court-house and jail be immediately erected." Nathan B.
Thomas, Gen. Gillespie, Drury Robertson, W. G. Feagan, James Forniss, James R.
Ervin and William Brown were appointed commissioners to contract for and
supervise the building. The site was selected and John S. Thomas deeded to the
authorities three acres of ground since called the "public square." The deed was
executed and recorded April 4, 1820. But delays occurred in the erection of the
court-house so that when the great storm of 1822 swept over the country the
brick walls were approaching completion, but not finished, and the torrents of
rain and the force of the wind caused one of the walls to crack from the top to
bottom and from that day there were thoughtful men who doubted the security of
the building, which was imposing in appearance and convenient in arrrangement.
There were people who called it a "man trap," a "dead fall," and were afraid to
enter it with a crowd. Hence its brief life, of less than thirty years, for it
was not till the beginning of 1824 that it was finished and received, and in
1851 it was torn down. Portions of the "old court-house" near the river and
other buildings were removed to the new site. Our fathers began to think
"perhaps there will be a village here some of these days," and "it would be well
to give the place a name"; and as the Governor of the State at that time was
named Bennett, in honor of him they began to call the place Bennettsville. If
the thought had once entered their minds that a town would grow up around the
courthouse, to be governed by a Mayor and Aldermen, with a half dozen churches,
fine schools, several dozen stores, great brick blocks and iron horses drawing
men and goods to it, upon an iron road, and hauling thousands of cotton bales,
weighing five hundred pounds to the bale, and bringing in turn thousands of tons
of fertilizers to enrich the soil, they would have given the infant town a more
pretentious name. As Monroe was president at the time they might have named it
"Monroe." Or if the district of which it was to be the capital must be called
after the grand old English Duke and soldier, who never felt the sensation of
defeat in a whole lifetime of war, they might have concluded, "we will call the
place Marlboro"; and that would have been proper, especially could they have
looked forward sixty years, and seen the whole country for miles around, so like
a town that you can hardly get out of sight of farm buildings and residences,
many of them looking more like a town than ever the "old court-house" and its
surroundings did in its palmiest days.

  But it is time that something be said of the unique structure that was
replaced by the present handsome building. On the 19th of December, 1849, the
Legislature appropriated "eight thousand dollars to build a new court-house for
Marlboro." M. Townsend, Dr. William Crosland, James Spears and others of like
character, had entrusted to them the superintendence of the enterprise. Neil
McNeil was the contractor, and after some delays, it was completed and accepted
about the beginning of the year 1852. The first court held in it was in March of
that year. The people generally, and the courts, were never satisfied with its
accommodations and arrangements, and when some years ago, a portion of the
plastering and cornicing fell off, it was not difficult to have it condemned as
unsafe, and to institute proceedings to build a new one. An act was passed
authorizing the measure, and the County Commissioners, P. M. Hamer, J. H. David,
and Tristram Covington took charge of the enterprise. The contract was given to
Jacob S. Allen, of North Carolina, and in the year 1885 the present building was
completed, being the fourth one in a century, and it is devoutly hoped that the
men who shall administer law and justice within its walls in the future years,
shall never fall below their predecessors in truth, honesty and uprightness.

  On the 27th of March, A. D., 1884, the cornerstone of the present handsome and
commodious new court-house was laid with due ceremony, and in the spring of 1885
the building was completed and occupied. At a special term of the Court of
Common Pleas begun to be holden on the 4th day of May, 1885, Judge J. H. Hudson,
presiding, the imposing structure was dedicated. The ceremony was arranged by
the Marlboro bar, and was the first of the kind of which we have knowledge. It
was unique, original, appropriate, and impressive. The programme was as follows:
The proceedings were opened with prayer by Rev. T. J. Clyde, of the Methodist
Church followed by the opening address by Rev. J. A. W. Thomas, of the Baptist
Church, at the close of which he delivered to the Court the Holy Bible with a
solemn charge as to its use. The presiding Judge received the Book and responded
to the address. Ex-Judge C. P. Townsend, the senior member of the Bar, on behalf
of his brethren, next addressed the Court, and closed by delivering to the Court
a pair of scales symbolical of the "Scales of Justice." The presiding Judge,
receiving the scales, responded. Next H. H. Newton, Esq., Solicitor of the
Fourth Judicial Circuit, addressed the Court, and closed by delivering to the
Judge a copy of the General Statutes, on receiving which the Judge responded,
and delivered to the Clerk of Court, C. M. Weatherly, the keys of the building,
which had been in a few appropriate remarks delivered to him by J. F. Bolton,
Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. The closing prayer was then
delivered by Rev. W. B. Corbett, of the Presbyterian Church, and the immense
audience of ladies and gentlemen dispersed. Their attention had been held
uninterruptedly from the opening to the closing of the impressive exercises, a
full record of which may be found in the Journal of Common Pleas, beginning on
page 448 of the volume of 1878 to 1886. The record is valuable, and will be
interesting to posterity.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF MARLBORO COUNTY,
WITH
TRADITIONS AND SKETCHES OF NUMEROUS FAMILIES.

REV. J. A. W. THOMAS, AUTHOR.

A wonderful stream is the river Time
  As it runs through the realms of tears 
With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme,
And a broader sweep and a surge sublime
  As it blends with the ocean of years.
                        —TENNYSON.

ATLANTA, GA.:
THE FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY,
Printers and Binders.
1897.


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