JASPER COUNTY'S VARIOUS COURT HOUSES

The term "courthouse" is sometimes wrongly applied. It may mean simply a place for holding various kinds of court, or it may also mean a county building, or buildings, wherein courts are held, as well as office rooms for the various county officials, such as recorder, treasurer, etc. So in speaking of the "first court house" in any given county it is always well to understand which construction is placed on the building being talked about. Here in Jasper County, the organizing act of the Legislature of the Territory of Iowa, had one section which reads: "That the District Court of Jasper County shall be held at the house of Matthew D. Springer, in said county, or at such other place as may be designated by the board of county commissioners of said county, until the seat of justice of said county may be located."

In accordance with the above provision, the first term of court was held at Mr. Springer's residence, in Buena Vista Township, or rather in Palo Alto Township, near the line between the two townships named. It was held in the cabin of Mr. Springer, which he had erected the autumn before (1845) and to which he had added a small room in which the court might be held. While it was the first courthouse, it was not a public building owned by Jasper County, at all, but the residence of Mr. Springer. (See Bench and Bar chapter for the first court.)

The reader of today and later generations may be interested in a description of this, the pioneer "courthouse," so called.

It stood where the highway now makes an elbow, on the Samuel Squares farm. It was built of small round hickory logs, about eight inches in diameter and was in size sixteen feet square and about eight feet high. Clapboards were nailed over the cracks inside to keep the snow and wind out as much as possible. It had what they called then a "continental" chimney - that is, holes bored into the walls, pins driven therein, and then weather boarded with clapboards, thus forming a flue for conducting the smoke above the roof of the building. A lane was cut through the brush from the "courthouse" to the prairie. Judge Williams, of Muscatine or Davenport, was the first judge of the Jasper County District Court, and it is related that while in session (the term lasted about an hour) several deer were seen roaming about and finally entered the lane, cut through the underbrush between the courthouse and prairie and the court, judge and all, went out to see the animals.

FIRST COUNTY BUILDING

The first rea1 courthouse of Jasper County was that built in 1847 by Evan Adamson and turned over to the commissioners by him October 4th of that year, for which the board paid him the sum of eighty-seven dollars and fifty cents. It was constructed of green native lumber. The contract was awarded to Mr. Adamson April 1847, and it called for a building eighteen by thirty feet and one story high. This building served well its original purpose until the second courthouse was built in 1857.

THE SECOND COURT HOUSE

During the winter of 1855-56 much excitement arose over a proposed removal of the courthouse site from the public square to Park block, in North Newton. March 3, 1856, a petition was presented to County Judge Rickman, asking him to submit the question of removal in April following. A remonstrance was also presented, when it was learned that the petition contained four hundred nine names and. the remonstrance seven hundred sixty-two. The Judge ruled that there be no election called. The case then went to the district court and the judge of that tribunal ordered that the county judge call an election, - least to let the proposition be voted upon at the spring election, - which was carried out and resulted in a defeat to the removal petitioners, by a majority of four hundred sixty-eight.

When it was decided to build a better, larger courthouse, in 1857, the old one was sold to Caleb Lamb and removed to his farm near Newton, where it stood for many years.

The second courthouse being demanded, Judge Edmundson made a contract with John Hyde for the construction of a foundation of a building that should be ample for many years to come, and the record shows that on August 15, 1857, Hyde was allowed $150 as a part of the September payment on the court house contract; on the 22nd he was paid $150 more; on the 29th, $200 more. William Rodgers was paid $225 for superintending the work. October 10th, Hyde was allowed $1,159 and November 3rd, $3,814, drawn in thirty-two warrants.

February 22, 1858, the Judge's record shows that he had sold bonds one and four to A. A. Kellogg at seventy-eight cents on the dollar, the same being payable at the St. Nicholas Bank, New York City. Other bonds were disposed of at eighty cents on a dollar.

October 30, 1858, the county judge ordered $1,981.43 to be paid to Contractor Hyde on the contract, and the record says he added, "this completes the sum of $26,600 which has been paid on the courthouse, and for which J. P. Huskins, agent of John Hyde, the contractor, has receipted for as payment in full for contract and all extras in and about the building. The house is therefore received from the hands of the contractor."

An early description of this building reads thus: "The building is located- in the center of the public square; its form is oblong, being fifty feet wide by sixty-two long, with porticoes projecting from each front twelve feet. It is two stories high, with a basement seven feet high beneath, the latter built of sandstone; the portion above ground is faced with white limestone, the bases to the columns and antae being of the same material. The walls are built of brick. The first story is fourteen feet high; and contains four rooms, each seventeen and a half by twenty-three and a half feet, and two halls, each ten feet wide, occupied by the county officers. Two stairways lead to the second story, which contains the court and jury rooms. The courtroom is thirty-seven by forty-seven feet, and nineteen feet high, and both jury rooms are ten and a half by sixteen feet in size. The entire height of the top of the cupola is eighty-three feet. The columns of the portico are Ionic.

The first courthouse was not removed until October 1859, and the following appeared in the Free Press then published here: "Once it was the house of the town. I remember well when all the business of the county was conducted in it. Thither we used to go every Tuesday night to the post office to hear our old townsman, Jesse Rickman, the postmaster read over the list of mail matter brought in by Valentine Adamson. It was not until the spring of 1853 that we got mail over once a week, and that was brought every Tuesday by Val Adamson, and we used to gather around tile old courthouse while Jess Rickman opened the mail. In that same old house we used to have both law and gospel dealt out to us."

It was in this old house that many of the early county laws and appropriations were made. With it's passing, came in a new and better era of county government.

Court house number two, the one erected in1857, was the one in which stood the treasury safe which in 1868 was broken into and robbed of about three thousand five hundred dollars in cash.

This structure stood and served well its purpose until the present magnificent temple of justice was placed on the ground where the old one stood.

THE PRESENT COURT HOUSE

This building, second to but few, if any, on Iowa soil today was dedicated April 6, 1911, and cost the county in round figures the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, which included the fixtures etc.

The first act of the board of supervisors looking to the erection of this splendid courthouse was in 1998, when the board called an election for the purpose of getting an expression of the people on this subject. Popular consent was easily obtained. In February 1909, a contract was let; work commenced April 1, 1909, and the building was dedicated Thursday, April 9, 1911. Judge Horace E. Deemer, of the supreme bench of Iowa, delivering the speech.

It may be well, however, to add this concerning the new (1911) temple of justice: The four emblematic paintings are by Edgar Cameron of Chicago, and are each illustrative of some incident in Jasper county's history. On the south side of the rotunda is a scene of a prairie fire and a herd of buffalo; on the east is a group of United States soldiers camping on the banks of Skunk River, west of Newton, in the early forties; on the north a scene of the departing Indian and the coming of the white man, his cabin and domestic surroundings; on the west side may be seen the soldier boys leaving for the front in Civil War days, in which are to he seen the teams and the relatives of the newly enlisted men, with waving flags as they bid home and loved ones "good bye." These paintings are all real works of art and add materially to the charm of the building.

The filing cabinets and book racks are all steel and fitted with sliding fronts, dust and light proof, for the preservation of papers. In addition in those offices needing them are large fireproof vaults, as large and light and comfortable to work in as the office rooms proper.

On the first floor is a room set apart for the exclusive use of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which there is everything attractive. In its border of mural decoration are painted the names of nineteen of the important battles of the Civil conflict, including Manassas and the windup at Appomattox.

Another special and modern feature of this courthouse building is the spacious, elegantly equipped ladies' rest room, on the first floor, easily accessible to the street. Here the ladies from town and country may while away an hour and rest.

On the same floor is an assembly room, which is finely furnished and here farmers and others may hold public meetings. This easily seats two hundred persons.

The clock in the tower is the latest achievement in timepieces. It is fitted with an automatic attachment so that every day it winds itself and each night it turns on the electric lights, which show through its eight-foot dial to the four sides of the public square. One thousand two hundred dollars of its cost was made up by private donations of Jasper County citizens. Aside, perhaps, from the Des Moines (Polk county) public building, nothing in all Iowa compares with this beautiful, modern courthouse. The following gentlemen were associated in the production of this, Jasper County's latest public building: Proudfoot & Bird, architects; James Rowson & Son, contractors; Norman A. Price, superintendent; Frank Sellman, auditor; supervisors during its construction, D. S. Fleck, chairman of the board, W. O. Livingston, J. F. Klise and C. F. Sauerman.

At the dedication of this building there were one hundred and twenty names entered in a book provided for the occasion, showing those present at the exercises, who had seen the erection of the old courthouse of 1858. In this "book of fame," as it was appropriately styled, the oldest man to sign his name was C. A. Dotson, of Colfax, aged ninety years and who came to Jasper County in 1848. The youngest man to sign was J. A. Blackwood, aged fifty-five years and who was three years old when the old courthouse was erected. Then another feature of this record book was the signing of the same by the oldest living settler in Jasper County, the venerable R. F. McKinney, who is not the oldest person, but the oldest settler now living in the county, he having arrived here in 1846, at the age of seven years, three years after the first white man had invaded the county's domain.

John B. Owens, of Newton, aged seventy-three, signed with the same pen which was used by him on a like occasion for the 1858 court house, having retained the same during all these long, eventful years.

The chapter on "Reminiscences" in this volume will contain an article from the ready, graphic pen of J. H. Fugard, of Newton, which will round out the history of Jasper County's last two courthouses. (See index.)

DETAILED FACTS CONCERNING THE BUILDING

THE COUNTY JAIL

The first permanent and separate jail for Jasper County was erected in 1877, at a cost of a contract price of fourteen thousand six hundred dollars, to John W. Rice, who gave bonds to the amount of ten thousand dollars for the faithful performance of his work. It is a brick building, just to the southwest of the public square. It is a jail and sheriff's house combined and is a neat, modern structure, always kept clean and sanitary. The contract was let in December 1876, and the building was first opened in 1877. In its rear is the city water works and lighting plant, with the new, high steel water tower overlooking it.

THE COUNTY HOME

The present county home was built through a contract entered into April 16, 1896, with S. T. Roberts, of Des Moines. The building committee consisted of J. C. Donahey, chairman, Ed, Cook and Alfred Davey. The building was completed in October of the same year the contract was made. A one-mill tax levy was made on the property of the county for the erection of this building. The election was had with the general election in November 1895, at which this proposition had 1,613 votes for and 1,545 against the building.

Times change with the administration of different sets of county officials, as will be observed by reading the two resolutions concerning, this poor farm.

At the April session in 1896, the board resolved: We will not hereafter allow payment for any but substantials, such as supplies and clothing, and positively refuse to allow payment for green apples, plums, cranberries, peaches, high grade flour in no case, save sickness, and then on an order from the attending physician.

Way back in Commissioner Burton's administration, a quarter of a century ago, he states to the writer that he had one man - an inmate of the place - to raise poultry to the amount of over four hundred chickens and two hundred turkeys. When fully grown, he saw fit to dole these chickens and turkeys out to the old men and women who had poor appetites. He was called up on the carpet and the board found much fault with him, thinking that he should sell such provisions and feed the inmates, regardless of age and health, on the plain foods such as the more hearty could live upon.

Total expenditures for 1910, including groceries, clothing, coal, tobacco, furniture, feed and stock, improvements, doctor's bills, steward and stewardess, with payment on lighting plant, $8,614. Total sales from the county farm for 1910, $3,981; net gain in invoice during 1910, $988.75. Outside the county home, the expenses were $5,020. For the three preceding years the figures were: In 1906, $5,969; 1907, $6,119; 1908, $5,813.

THE JASPER COUNTY SEAL

As has been previously noticed, the first seal of this county was improvised by using the imprint of a ten-cent coin piece. Then later the county commissioners were allowed to purchase a real seal, which was in the latter part of the forties or early in the fifties. This seal is the same in use today. It is quite emblematic. It is composed of the figure of an American eagle sitting on the edge of "union," or a striped shield, which shield is resting on the beam of a huge plow turning a heavy furrow of virgin sod. In the rotunda of the new court house in Newton this design has been enlarged to cover a space described by a circle not less than eight feet in diameter. It is in colors made by the different tints of the marble flooring. The only lettering on the seal is, "Seal of Jasper County, Iowa."

OFFICIAL DIRECTORY-1911

Auditor, H. S. Rayburn; deputy auditor, C. O. Edge; clerk, Frank Wilson; deputy clerk, Harvey Gribben; treasurer, O. B. Kipp; deputy treasurer, Blanche Kipp; recorder, R. H. Bailey; deputy recorder, Fay Horn; sheriff, W. S. Gove; deputy sheriff, Harry Gove; county superintendent, Olive Shriner; deputy county superintendent, Edith Parvin; county attorney, Ross R. Mowry; county surveyor, W. F. Byers; coroner, James C. Hill; members of board of supervisors, D. S. Fleck, C. F. Sauerman, W. O. Livingston.

NEW ROAD DRAG LAW

In the winter of 1910-11, the Iowa Legislature passed a new road drag law, of which the following is one of the sections:

"Section 2. The township trustees shall from time to time designate what districts shall be dragged, which must include all the mail routes and all the main traveled roads within the township; they shall at their regular meeting in April, or at a special meeting called for that purpose, appoint a superintendent of dragging, who shall be a resident of the township, or any city or town within said township, who shall serve for one year unless sooner removed by the board; they shall fix the amount of his compensation, which shall not exceed two dollars and fifty cents per day and actual expenses for each day of eight hours while engaged in necessary work for the township, and for giving notice to contractors who shall be required to drag he shall receive such additional compensation as the board may direct; they shall furnish suitable road drags for the township and pay for same out of the township road funds; they shall adopt a suitable form of notice to be given by the superintendent of dragging when ordering the roads dragged, stipulating the manner of serving same."

It is believed that this new law will serve to greatly facilitate the making of improved roads, and Jasper County has already put the law into force. There are several excellent "road-drags" manufactured within this county, one of which is made entirely of steel and is adjustable in its operation.