CHAPTER VIII

PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF THE COUNTY-COURTHOUSES-THE JAILCOUNTY FARM-FIRST AND LAST TAX LEVY-POPULATION-FRANKLIN COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The first courthouse in Hampton was a one-story frame building 18x30 feet and had but one room, in the corners of which the county officials had their desks and there maintained the county offices. The building was erected on the southeast corner of Court House Square in the summer of 1857, by F. A. Denton. On July 4th of that year this first Franklin county temple of justice was formally dedicated. A program was arranged for the occasion and when the great day came, the town was full of settlers, who made their way to the county seat afoot, horseback and in wagons drawn by ox-teams. A gala time was had by all, which was made up of patriotic speeches by Lawyer W. R. Jamison, of Union Ridge, S. H. Vankirk, the pioneer farmer, schoolmaster and surveyor, and others. Of course, the Declaration of Independence was read, Hail Columbia sung and a substantial feast of good home-cooked edibles discussed.

The old courthouse was the meeting place for judge, jury, lawyer, disputant, disappointed husband or wife and criminal; the love-sick swain seeking a license to wed his Joan. Here also were held religious meetings, political meetings, entertainments and it seems hardly credible—dances. But, in the year 1866, the old landmark was condemned to take a back seat and give away to a successor. It was removed to a lot on Main street, the purchasers intending to convert the building into a Methodist meeting house. But the plan for consecrating the temple of justice as a temple of worship was abandoned and it was remodeled into a dwelling house and as such was used until 1879, when once again its poor old frame was ordered removed, this time to a lot belonging to Peter Chance, at the south end of Reeve street where, after at last finding a resting place, it was ignobly converted into a stable.

While preparing for and building another courthouse the county

officials removed with their records to rooms in the school building on south Reeve street. A new building was erected in 1866, by U. Weeks, who had taken the contract at the sum of $12,500, but the cost was something in excess of that amount. The building was constructed of stone, having ground dimensions of 48x70 feet and was two stories in height. The structure was an imposing one for its day and was used until 1889, when by reason of decrepitude and indications of falling down, it was condemned and sentenced to the junk pile.

The third building to be erected by Franklin county for public use is now standing in Court House Square, majestically showing its harmonious proportions, pleasing architectural lines and substantial construction. Building operations began in the spring of 1890 and early in the succeeding year the great pile of brick, stone and mortar was completed at a cost of approximately $60,000. T. D. Allen, of Minneapolis, was the architect; G. H. King, of Brooklyn, contractor; and C. W. Boutin, superintendent of construction for the board of supervisors.

The dimensions of the Franklin county courthouse are 76x102 feet on the ground and 133 feet high from the top of an imposing dome to the basement floor. The material is pressed brick, with cut and carved stone trimmings; the latter are particularly heavy and artistic at the entrances, of which there are three, one on Reeve, Fourth and Fifth streets.

In each of the four corners of the main floor is an office with its records; the recorder's, treasurer's, clerk of the courts' and the auditor's. On the second floor is a handsome and commodious court room, jury rooms, retiring room for the judge, the superintendent of schools' office and the county engineer's office. In the basement the sheriff has his office with entrance on Reeve street; and here also, in the northwest corner, is a woman's rest room. Storage rooms and all the apparatus for heating the building are in the basement.

Franklin county secured a splendid piece of work in her courthouse and the contractor attached to himself a "white elephant." To meet the specifications, he was called upon to furnish material and labor, which consumed the contract price of $42,000 and several thousand dollars beside, much to his loss and discomfiture. But the county made a good bargain, for which her taxpayers may well congratulate themselves. In public enterprises of this kind. the good bargains usually go to the other fellow.