About those Lucas County courthouses

This is the other, and much briefer, essay I churned out last week for a Lucas County-related web site now under development. The first, headlined for blogging purposes "Becoming Lucas County, Revisited," is here.

Again, there's nothing new here about Lucas County courthouses --- just an abbreviated version of material I've shared many times before. The photograph of the current courthouse is in the Lucas County Historical Society collection. The original of the 1858 courthouse image is in the collection of the Kearney County Historical Society, Minden, Nebraska.

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Lucas County has been served by three courthouses since it was created during 1846.

The first was a story-and-a-half building of hewn logs built during 1850 on the west side of the Chariton square. This was the only public building in Lucas County at the time and served as home base for county officials, jail when needed, the site of court proceedings and a location for public gatherings that ranged from church services to dances.

The second courthouse, a four-square brick structure in a style the blended late Greek revival with Italianate, was completed during 1858 on the site of the current courthouse. Four office rooms were located on the first floor, two offices and a courtroom on the second. This building, too, served as Lucas County’s primary public gathering place until after the Civil War. In addition, county supervisors rented some of the offices out to lawyers, newspaper editors and others to raise additional revenue.

Unfortunately, the 1858 courthouse had faulty foundations and it began to deteriorate almost immediately. By 1891, the building had become too dangerous to occupy, county offices were evacuated, court proceedings moved elsewhere and the building was demolished.

Construction of the current courthouse began during the late fall of 1892 and was completed during the early spring of 1894. Dedication occurred on May 22 of that year. The structure, with a 140-foot clock tower, is built of Berea sandstone and was designed in the Richardson Romanesque style by the Des Moines-based architectural firm of Foster & Liebbe.

Only one major change has been made during the building’s history --- in 1954, county supervisors decided that the spire of the courthouse tower was unsafe and rather than repair it, ordered its removal.

Conserving this fine old building is a continuing process. The clock in the courthouse tower was donated by a local entrepreneur, Smith H. Mallory, and began running on the day of dedication. During 2016, it was restored and reinstated to mark Lucas County’s hours.