Lou’s View
COURT IS IN SESSION
By Lou Bernard
Yay! It’s my birthday! Assuming you’re reading this on the day the Record hits the stands, which you probably are—I assume you can’t wait to get to my column. When publication falls close to my birthday, I’ll often write about something I try to relate to it. I’ve gone back and researched what was happening locally the day I was born. I’ve written about Henry Shoemaker (my favorite historical figure) and the founding of Lock Haven (my favorite time period.) This year, it took me a while to come up with something new to write, but I finally decided on my favorite local building.
Truth is, that’s probably about a six-hundred-way tie, because I love all of the local buildings and their history. (Except for the Isaac Packer House. It knows what it did.) But, if pressed, I’d have to select one as being my big favorite: The Clinton County Courthouse.
To me, the courthouse represents everything that’s great about our county. It has a beautiful architecture and history, it’s got a lot of our records, and it’s the center of many of our best stories. It was the first building I really noticed when I moved here, almost immediately upon coming into Lock Haven in a moving van. So for this birthday, I’m celebrating by writing about the courthouse.
It was actually the second courthouse or the fourth, depending upon how strict you want to be with your interpretations. When Clinton County was founded in 1839, the commissioners first rented Barker’s Tavern on Water Street, making most of that into a temporary courthouse. Then John Moorhead built a building that he intended to be the courthouse, offering it to the county for free. They turned him down and constructed a courthouse where Robb Elementary now stands on Church Street, which lasted until the 1860s, and then the current courthouse was built.
It was contracted by the county commissioners at the time: A.C. Noyes, J.F. Betcheler, and Dr. Samuel Adams. The site chosen was an empty spot where a devastating fire had burned down businesses in 1862. Construction began in July of 1867, which I like because my birthday is in July.
Samuel Sloan was chosen to draw up the design for it. Now, Sloan definitely had a favorite type of building—He also did the Venango County Courthouse, which is damn near identical to ours. According to Historic Resource Survey Form 035-LH-93, it’s a Romanesque Revival style, which means practically nothing to me—I’m a historian, not an architect.
The courthouse cost $102,464 to build, which, by today’s standards, will get you two or three drinks at an average Starbucks. It took until 1918 to finish paying it off (no joke.) The entire thing was made from stone shipped in from Farrandsville, which is another feature that makes it my favorite—Not only is the courthouse the repository for the county records, it’s made from another part of the county, Colebrook Township.
The construction was completed in 1869—Exactly a hundred years before I was born, not that anyone cared much at the time. And the new courthouse opened for business. In 1936, an addition was put on the back. Previously, the courthouse had been a simple rectangle, but the addition made it into more of a T-shape.
The Clinton County Courthouse represents basically everything that’s best about our county. I’ve always loved Clinton County, and when I stand in front of the courthouse and look at it, I feel that all over again. Happy 156th anniversary to the courthouse, and happy birthday to me.
