Michigan's County Courthouses

Introduction

Introduction Courthouses are symbols. Physically they stand, but figuratively they speak. they embody the purposes for which they were created: law, order, justice, the american way, and the promise of a better tomorrow. Whatever their shape, station, or locale, the ideals are the same. each is, in its own unique way, a gem of the people. this writer had an inchoate sense of these truths before embarking on visiting each circuit courthouse of michigan’s eighty-three counties. experience affirms the hypothesis. as any michigan traveler should know, rarely is it difficult to find the county courthouse. Get a map, drive to the county seat,and surely there she stands on a hill or on a primary thoroughfare, which is often called main, state, Division, huron, ottawa, or saginaw street. once found, however, the building is less readily known. sifting through the written record reveals that the story of each building is intertwined with stories of, usually , the building’s successor, always, the organization of a sizeable tract of frontier land, and, inevitably, people. Public buildings, like persons, belong to family trees. For michigan the typical evolution begins in the cabin, tavern, or hotel of a prominent local settler and progresses through incarnations of simple log or wooden clapboard and then opulent stone or brick before arriving in modern and utilitarian form. there are myriad exceptions to this rule, and they add variously to the diverse set of michigan county courthouses. the counties themselves fall into separate categories. there are the many which waged costly and sometimes violent political and legal battles over the location of the county seat. Fortune and sacred honor rode on the outcome . there are the first-settled and more populous counties that gave way to future organization of smaller counties: Wayne, Kalamazoo, saginaw, oakland, macomb, Kent, and mackinac, to name a few. there are the coastal counties, deriving great benefit from lakes erie, huron, michigan, and superior. the landlocked counties have their charms too, from the western upper Peninsula’s Iron and lastorganized Dickinson to the dual band of southern counties along the ancient Native american trails that interstate highways now track. the name origins range from native tongues to French and Irish to individual commemoration, including military figures, presidents, governors, and, notably , the Cabinet Counties of the andrew Jackson administration . It is no secret that michigan entered the union when spoils for the victors were as expected as they were unabashed. Its borders contain a vast and varied land, second in area only to Georgia among states east of the mississippi river. separately, this writer observes that a disproportionate number of michigan counties begin with the letters C, m, or o. at bottom, there are the people. the human element of the inanimate objects described herein cannot be denied. Verifiable facts and local lore blend to weave dramatic tales of outrageous crime, courtroom intrigue, backroom dealing, jury determination, and judicial prerogative. unsurprisingly, human frailty and failing are apparent in the known cases of corruption and mob rule. but noteworthy counterbalance abounds: released jail inmates assisting with evacuating and extinguishing a courthouse fire, residents during a natural disaster seeking and finding physical refuge behind the sure walls of the courthouse, and vigilant legions of homebound defenders arrayed in wartime throughout the courthouse towers scanning the skies for signs of foreign invaders. then there are the homey touches that emphasize the “house” half of michigan’s courthouses: local folk dropping off plants in the courthouse atrium for use as a winter greenhouse, cows grazing on the public square, county fairs in or near the courthouse, and locally made artwork hanging in public hallways. the courthouses thus bear within their walls a richness of soul endowed by the good people who make each one special. a sampling of stories could never fully account for the goodwill imbued within and emanating from michigan’s courthouses. the narrative is necessarily demonstrative, not exhaustive. similarly, this writer must fall short in any 2 attempt to thank the individuals who assisted in the fruition of the ambitious writing project he conceived as a law student. he thanks the many devoted local historians, community archivists, maintenance workers, judges, attorneys, county clerks, civil servants, and fellow citizens who, like the invisible hands of innumerable small breezes, breathed infinite kinetic energy into the endeavor. In particular, the author wishes to thank stephen markman, robert Precht, David h. sawyer, William b. murphy, mike murphy, and mark hoffman for their kind support. he is further indebted...