Michigan's County Courthouses

Gladwin County

57 GlADWiN—Major Henry Gladwin is the namesake of this county and its seat. He was the British military leader who held Fort Detroit during an uprising led by Chief Pontiac in  to . A large portrait of him by a local artist hangs in the courthouse. Elias Steel’s barn is where Gladwin County first conducted its government business beginning in . Chappel Dam and Cedar vied for designation as the county seat. The struggle was one-sided after the former burned down in a fire of unknown origin. in  Cedar changed the name of its post office to Gladwin, as there was another Cedar elsewhere in Michigan. The cornerstone for the first proper court was laid in early . The county occupied it in October  at a cost of $,. Fred Hollister of Saginaw replaced the first unrecorded contractor. The contract was assigned to two other contractors before the project was finally finished. it was three stories of brick measuring forty-five by sixty feet. it also featured four fireproof vaults. The county paid J. A. Wells for the job of “slicking up and fencing the Court House grounds.” Some called the building “a rank extravagance ,”but there it stood and served until it was razed in the shadow of its replacement in . in its time it would also serve the purpose of church, regular and Sunday schoolhouse , and dance hall. The old cornerstone was unsealed on September , . its contents included a copy of the Midland Sun dated October , , a New York Illustrated Times from three days later, an  penny, a piece of rock, and a horse chestnut. The newspapers were badly deteriorated. Some of the items were placed in the new cornerstone along with contemporary newspapers and a photograph of the old courthouse. An oil boom in the late s paid for the new courthouse . unlike neighboring counties, Gladwin held its oil tax revenue in a reserve fund for the express purpose of funding a new courthouse. The money did not quite suffice , however, and voters rejected a bond proposal for another $, in April . To protect his interest and that of his employees, Charles Engelhardt, the general contractor , served notice that he would lock the doors to the unfinished building until the county was able to pay him to complete the work. it took some doing because of state law limiting tax millages, but the matter was solved when a compromise bond for $, passed in September . in total, the building cost $,. in its foundation are large granite slabs bearing the inscribed names of Gladwin’s sixteen townships. Higher up there are etchings depicting some popular county activities: farming, commerce, bricklaying, hunting, lumbering, and skiing. interspersed throughout the facades of the building are decorative bricks with simple designs. Facing north, a large inscription tells passersby to make no mistake, for they gaze upon the Gladwin County Court House. inside, the court has an attractive lobby area with a decorative ceiling and a floor depicting a Native American chief in profile. This lobby is no longer used as an entrance. A  addition to the rear added new space and a different entrance near the parking lot. it is here where visitors meet Major Gladwin’s portrait. Elsewhere visitors see a different portrait of Gladwin the county in the form of a mural depicting a number of Gladwin scenes. This mural Gladwin County GlADWiN COuNTY 58 was added to a wall along the main stairway where expansion removed an earlier window. The courtroom on the second floor is unmistakably art deco in design, particularly in its decorative plaster and ribbed faux stone columns. Above the bench there is an octagonal bas-relief of lady Justice, who holds scales in one hand and a sword in the other. Jurors sit in original wooden swivel chairs that are bolted to the floor. They appear to at least have newer cushions for comfort. Outside, an imposing brick war memorial lists names of local citizens who served and died in American wars. A pair of twelve-pound howitzer cannons from a Civil War boat sunk in Pensacola, Florida, adorns the memorial. A plaque indicates that they were stolen in  and returned “after an extensive search nation-wide.” They greet both friend and foe, standing guard much like the artillery on which Major Gladwin depended when he repelled warring Chief Pontiac. Though distant in time and space from this county seat, one can only guess what ruling order might have taken root here had Gladwin not held his fortress...