Delaware County, Indiana - Chapter 7: The County As a Civil Organization, 1908

The organization of counties and the fixing of their boundaries are matters of state legislation. Wayne county was organized in 1810, Randolph county about 1818, and in February, 1821, Henry county was formed. It will be remembered that previous to 1818 the region subject to settlement was limited to the "twelve mile purchase" lying west of the Greenville treaty line and lacking several townships of covering the area of the present Randolph county. But shortly after the treaty of St. Mary's, by which so much new land was acquired, all of this territory lying cast of the second meridian was designated by the name of Delaware county. Delaware county, originally, therefore, was an immense country, comprising the area of half a dozen of the counties as we now know them. It is not to be understood that this original Delaware county was a civil organization ; it was merely a name applied, for convenience, to a large and rather indefinitely bounded country which had not yet been settled sufficiently to be given county government. This territory, though without government of its own, nevertheless was under the jurisdiction of laws and courts. To this end it was provided that the organized counties lying adjacent should extend the operation of their civil government into the unorganized area. Accordingly the pioneers who came to the county before 1827 looked to Winchester in Randolph county or to Newcastle in Henry county as the scat of local government. When the first election was held within the limits of the present Delaware county, in 1824, the twenty odd ballots cast for the respective presidential candidates were carried to Winchester to be counted.

When Henry county was organized in 182 1, the act of legislature spoke of the area to be included in the new county as "the south part of Delaware." By successive acts of the legislature, the area of the original Delaware county was rapidly reduced. A county was organized as soon as the extension of population justified it, and by 1827 the settlers on the block of country north of Henry and west of Randolph counties were given a county government. In forming a new county it was the duty of the legislature to define the boundaries, to fix the time when independent county government should begin, to appoint commissioners to locate the seat of justice, to designate the place of meeting and the first duties of the board of justices, and provide such a schedule as was necessary to transfer governr1 mcnt from adjacent counties to the new one. The act of the legislature providing these things was signed by the governor January 26, 1827, and the new county of Delaware was to begin its official existence on the following April 1st.

The commissioners named in the act who should locate the county scat were: Elias Poston, of Rush county; Jonathan Platts, of Wayne county; Martin Adkins, of Decatur county; Joseph Craft, of Henry county, and William Smith, of Randolph county. The sheriff of Randolph county was instructed to inform the men of their appointment, and if he followed the usual custom in such proceedings he rode on horseback to the appointee's home in each county. The home of Goldsmith C. Gilbert was designated as the meeting place of the commissioners. On June 11, 1827, the commissioners, or a majority of them, assembled at the Gilbert home on White river, where a few settlers had already located on the site now covered by Muncie. There can be no doubt that the meeting of the commissioners was a notable occasion in the history of the county and particularly of the little settlement which was urging its claims as the seat of county government. As strangers from other counties, and clothed in official dignity, the commissioners must have been entertained with every mark of respect, and the Gilbert home, during their stay, was the center around which all thought and activities of the settlers revolved.

The commissioners examined sites and deliberated with the citizens about a week. It was finally decided to locate the county seat on the south side of White river, almost exactly in the center of the county from east to west. The commissioners were led to this decision by the donations of three men, who offered a site for the county government. They were Goldsmith C. Gilbert, Lemuel G. Jackson and William Brown. In donating land, it was their desire, as stated in the proposal, to aid "in improving the town of Muncietown, the county seat for the county aforesaid, and for the benefit and use of the said county of Delaware in the erection of public buildings and for other public purposes." Accordingly, the donated lands were transferred to the ownership of the county and were to be sold by the county officials and the proceeds applied to the buildings and other improvements essential to a county seat. The donations, which centered where the court house now stands on the public square, were as follows: Gilbert's, containing 20.09 acres, was bounded on the south by a line through the center of the court house and extending east along the alley between Washington and Main streets to the west side of Jefferson street ; thence north to North street; from North street west to the river; and along the course of the river southwest until it meets a line drawn west from the

5 center of the court house. Jackson's donation, 9.72 acres, was bounded on the cast by Walnut street, on the south by Jackson street as far west as Gharkcy street, and on the west by Gharkey street to Water street

! u Iicrc it joined the Gilbert tract. Brown's donation, containing 20 acres, and lying east of Jackson's, was bounded on the south by Adams street, extending east almost to Elm street, and by a line from that point north

These donations comprised the original area of the town of Muncic. The public square was set aside for the site of county buildings and grounds, and the rest of the land was laid off in streets and platted into lots. A certain proportion of these lots were given to the original donors, but the rest were sold by the county. The deed for the Jackson donation was executed in December, 1828, but the other two not until 1831.

The organizing act had provided that county government should begin April I, 1827. It happened that this day was Sunday, so the election was postponed until Monday, when the citizens assembled and chose their first cunty officers. William Van Matre was elected to perform all the duties nf clerk, recorder and auditor. John Rees and Lewis Rees were elected associate judges; Peter Nolin sheriff; and Valentine Gibson, Aaron Stout and Enoch Nation, justices of the peace. At that time and until the law was changed in 1831, the business of the county was performed by the justices of the peace constituting a board for that purpose.

The first meeting of the board of justices was held, in accordance with the organic act, at the house of Goldsmith C. Gilbert. This house is said to have stood on the site of the present jail. The meeting was held on the first Monday of August, 1827, and such business was transacted as was essential to set the county government in action.

Naturally one of the first matters to which the county officials turned their attention was the building of a home for the county government. Courts and the meetings of the board of justices were held in private resi- building of a court house, and it was completed probably by the spring of 1829. It was considered a large and rather splendid building at the time. It was a two-story frame building, 20 by 40 feet, with a gable fronting floor was divided, while the upper floor, lighted by half a dozen windows, was for the use of the county officials who kept offices of record. The x]uare-hewn timbers of this building were mortised and fitted together bv means of wooden pins. A few years' use and this court house became dilapidated. It caught fire once, and after the citizens had taken much trouble in extinguishing the blaze they felt regretful that they had not allowed the old structure to suffer the destruction it deserved.

Early in 1837 the board of commissioners adopted plans and awarded a contract for a new court house. Delaware county had progressed far since the organization of the county, and now it was proposed to erect a building that would be an ornament to the county for years to come. Until its removal to make place for the present court house, about twentv years ago, the brick structure built in the thirties did service as court house. The building was modeled after that of the court house of Wayne county at Ccnterville. After the contract had been awarded and the work begun by the contractor, Morgan John, it was decided to alter the plans and make a better building, which would also cost more. The contractor, however, agreed to do the work at the original terms, but failed before it was completed. The court house was built forty-five feet square and twentyeight feet high, with nothing to relieve the rectangular plainness of the whole except the cupola. There was a rather fiat kind of hip roof, and from the center rose this cupola, with no special character to distinguish it as a thing of beauty or of architectural elevation. A bell, mounted in the cupola, summoned the court sessions. In 1848 the old bell was removed and placed in the seminary building, and a new bell, weighing a thousand pounds, was hung in the tower on June 30.

The court house square in those days was a rather unattractive place, if it may be judged from contemporaneous descriptions. One picturesque feature, however, was a large elm tree standing at the southwest corner. It was one of the few survivors of the wilderness, and had been permitted to stand probably on account of its beauty and size. Here the farmers used to hitch their teams and gather in little groups in the shade to gossip and discuss such affairs as then concerned home and state. Along in the forties the Muncie paper has much to say about the bareness and unkempt conditions surrounding the square. The square should be fenced, shade trees should be planted both in the square and along the streets. Some response to this advice is found in the news item of April, 1847, that the citizens on the south and east sides of the square had planted shade trees.

The old court house was not ample for the accommodation of the county officers. In 1848 the county board advertised for bids on a brick building, 46 by 26 feet and 20 feet high, to contain offices for treasurer, recorder, clerk and auditor. James L. Russcy, John Jack and Jacob H. Wysor were given the contract to erect this building, their bid being $2,696.46. It was built on the ground just north of the court house, and continued in use as originally designed until the present court house was built. The builders had been granted the privilege of constructing a basement story to the county offices, and for a nominal sum had the use of it for fifty years. The interesting feature of their contract was this: "No liquors to be sold on the premises, except beer or cider, cither for purposes of sickness or medicine."

f-ong before the decision was reached to build a new court house, in keeping with the county's growth and prosperity, the necessity for such a building had become plain, and both the press and the public were urging the rcpb< - ;; of. the old with a modern court house.* But the eld brick buildinp tood nearly half a century. Finally the county board, n-inforcing theii nvvn judgment with what they deemed the best public opinion, awarded i contract, on Ncvembcr 6, 1884, to Charles Fearcc and Company, for the building of a stone court house to cost $195,618.46. At their meeting on January 15 previous, the commissioners had decided to build the court house, and had advertised for bids. The old county offices were sold to D. C. Mitchell for ten dollars, but there were no bidders for the court house and it had to be removed at the expense of the county. During the building of the new court house Walling Hall was used for court room and clerk's office.

May 6, 1885, the first issue of court house bonds, consisting of ninetyeipht $1,000 bonds, bearing five per cent interest, was sold to a Chicago firm. The bonds were dated May 15, 1885, and the first one was due in 1895. There was much discussion at this time concerning the wisdom of building such an expensive court house, many claiming that the county was already burdened. However, the financial condition of the county in July, 1S85, showed the following: $2,000 outstanding bonds for free

"Volney WilK-nn, opposing the purpose of the commissioners to build a new court house, argued from the economic and civil burdens on tho citizens, and incidentally gave some descriptions of the first court house in 1837:

"Taking into consideration the finnncinl condition of this county, its $80,000 of present indebtedness, Hie twenty odd thousand dollars' indebtedness of Muncio. in nil this talk about a new court house that, as is advocated, we must build at no distant day, there is only one thing that this day entitles it to a moment's thought, viz., tint safety of the county records.

"The first court house, the first court room, that I was in, wa^, I think, of hewn logs, wcntlierbonrded, standing on the lot where Walling Hall now stands. I saw then inside of what, J Suppose, was the bar, a part of the room enclosed with fencing h"ir. Is, anil an improvised kind of rostrum with a board for a shelf elevated on tho frc-it to place looks, behind which was a bench, on which sat Samuel Bigger, judge, nnil Klcazer t'offeen and William McC'ormick, associates. Samuel W. Harlan, clerk, was sitting at a low trilde writing. William Gilbert, sheriff, omnipresent. Inside tho pen »nt Oliver II. Smith, nftrrv.nrils known as the intellectual giant of the West;

Mincliell, with Samuel W. l'arker, prosecuting attorney, all sitting on benches and Jonathan Smith's best split-1 ottem chairs. I did not hear them say a word about ventilation or the sanitary condition of the court room, but they did look like a body nf men that knew how 'KM got there'! and they were going, and did as the hiMerv of Ind'ana and their biographies show-; so much for the Delaware court room of 1837." - Muncic Daily News, March 28, 1884.

gravel roads; $5,000 bonds for new jail, $2,000 coining due June I, 1886. Aside from the court house bond issue it was claimed that the county could have paid all its indebtedness and left a surplus. The court house bonds not coming to maturity until 1895, when ten thousand dollars would be parable in each of the following five years, and thereafter twelve thousand dollars each year for four years, it was argued that the county could never be in a better situation financially to expend money on public improvements.

July Z3, 1885, was a day long to be remembered in Delaware county. The laying of the cornerstone of the new court house was celebrated as an event that concerned every citizen and an occasion that should bring thousands of people together. The Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason of Indiana officiated at the ceremony. The procession down the streets to the public square was headed by the U. D. Camps of the I. O. O. F. of Muncie and adjoining towns; then followed the Knight Templar commanderies; the G. A. R. posts of Muncie,- New Corner, Eaton, Selma, Yorktown, Reeds and Hartford; Delaware Lodge A. F. & A. M., and speakers, officials and citizens. A rain marred the ceremony somewhat, and during its progress the news came of General Grant's long expected death.

It required two years to complete the present court house. It was accepted and the contractors released on August 13, 1887. The total cost was $227,250.06. After twenty years it is not possible to regard the court house with the same unqualified admiration that was expressed concerning it when first built. And yet the Delaware county court house for some years was claimed to be one of the finest court houses in the state, and it was a building certain to be praised by visitors. Built in the style of the French Renaissance, on ground dimensions 155 by no feet, on the plan of a Greek cross, the structure conformed to the most approved ideas of that time in county architecture and among court houses that were erected two decades ago it has few superiors. One of the features in the construction of both the high school building and the court house (the former built several years before the latter) is the high basement, equivalent almost to a full storv, and requiring a tower of steps as direct approaches to the main floor. Much was said in praise of this feature at the time. In conformity with the predominating architectural style, the exterior presents great detail in supporting buttresses, projecting corners, heavy window casements, and other variety of ornamental construction. The office and court rooms are spacious and conveniently arranged, although the stairways are narrow and the general interior aspect unattractive. Notwithstanding some obvious defects, the court house has admirably served its purpose, and for twenty Years has been a credit to Delaware county.

It is related that the first sheriffs of Delaware county confined their prisoners by chaining them and fastening the chain by staple to one of the big puncheons in their house. But soon after the county was organized a lock-up was constructed, though so inadequate for its purposes that it soon became a subject for the grand jury's report. Another jail was constructed, which stood, according to a pioneer's account, just west of the court house and on the public square. The jail occupied the south end and the sheriff's residence the north end of the brick two-story house. The jail was of logs, surrounded with brick, and on the second floor was evidence of the extension of an obsolete custom into Delaware county - a room for the confinement of debtors.

This jail was insecure and jail deliveries caused general agitation for a better one. In December, 1858, following an examination of the jail at Winchester, Randolph county, by members of the board, the commissioners decided upon an issue of bonds to the amount of $3,000 to supplement the regular revenues in paying for the jail. In February, 1859, contracts werelet for the building of the iron at $4,780, and for the construction of the building at $4,467. The jail was completed during the latter part of 1859. Two lots, lying north of the public square, were purchased for the site of the jail in March, 1859.

This jail was used a little more than twenty years. January 21, 1882, the commissioners let a contract at $20,000 for building a new jail to Myers and Company, of Fort Wayne. The work was completed in the fall of 1883.