Decatur County Journal
February 7, l907

Old Court House Will Soon be a Thing of the Past. A Bit of Court House History:

As the time approaches for the dismantling of the old brick Court House that now stands in our public square, the pioneer settlers of the county recall many interesting incidents connected with the erection and final fate of the different county buildings constructed in Decatur County. From that and other sources we have prepared the following brief article on Court Houses of the past.

The present Court House, which is soon to be torn down to make way for the new county building, was erected in l875. This building, which has served Decatur County for so many years, was erected in the following manner: There had been many sales of lots laid out in the forty acres given to the county. The proceeds together with the ordinary resources being sufficient, the County Judge contracted for the brick which was burned in l874 at a cost of about $2,000. The Board of Supervisors had secured plans for the building which was estimated to cost about $20,000. The State had years prior donated swamp lands to the county which had been sold from time to time, and from this source, the county had $l0,000 of "swamp funds." The Board offered to appropriate the $l0,000 if the people would furnish enough money to complete the building. A Leon contractor scaled the price down and Leon people raised $6,600 and completed the building. On the morning of April l, l877, the entire west side of the structure was blown out with powder. W.W. Van Schoik and Howard Reed had laid plans for getting into the County Treasurer's office and blowing the safe open for the purpose of securing the county funds. They succeeded in getting into the vault but instead of blowing open the safe, they only succeeded in blowing out one side of the building. The books in the office of the Treasurer, Recorder and Auditor were left in a badly mixed condition, the force of the explosion having thrown them from the shelves and left them in heaps upon the floor. They were uninjured however. The damage to the building amounted to about $5,000, but it was easily repaired and was soon as good as ever. They were both captured and sent to the penitentiary.

Decatur County has certainly had considerable trouble with her Court Houses. The first Court House was constructed of hewn logs at Decatur City at a cost of about $375. It was completed in l85l. It was used but a short time. The next county building was a large frame structure which stood upon the lot where the fine home of Stephen Varga now stands. Court was held therein two terms when the County Judge filed objections and finally refused to receive it from the contractors.

Another building was started but before it was completed, it was destroyed by a wind storm. Another was built upon its ruins, but fire swept it out of existence. It contained no fire proof vaults and was long considered an unsafe place for the county records. On the morning of March 3l, l874, the long feared catastrophe took place. About 3 o'clock on the morning of that day, G.P. Knott discovered flames issuing from the building. The alarm was quickly given and the citizens made every effort to save the building but all to no purpose. The structure was destroyed together with all the records of the county. One book from the office of the Recorder and one from the Office of the Clerk, were the only records saved outside of the Treasurer's Office. A snow storm came just in time to keep the flames from destroying other parts of the town.

The safe in the Treasurer's Office contained over $33,000 in money, but when the rubbish had been cleared away and the safe opened, the contents were found to be intact.

Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
September 28, 200l