Michigan's County Courthouses

Oceana County

143 HaRt—the former Oceana county courthouse left a hole in the community, literally. the new courthouse was constructed around it so that the county could operate seamlessly through the transition. It was then razed and in its footprint remains a courtyard surrounded by the successor. unlike the footprint of the old courthouse, the current boundaries of the county fall north of and nowhere within the original lines the Legislature approved, which now fall mainly within Kent, Mecosta, and newaygo counties. Oceana in its current form was organized in , with the seat first at Stony creek. earlier, it was attached to Ottawa county for judicial purposes. the board of supervisors then moved the seat to Whiskey creek, or Roseville. the first name came from speculation about the properties of the river because an early settler sold several barrels of the spirit from there. In  court convened at the anderson house hotel. the next year court was held in the home of L. D. eaton, which also housed county offices and hotel guest rooms. an early court clerk on his first day of the job interrupted court, shouting, “Hold on judge! I can’t get half of this talk down—you must go a little slower.” the account of the incident claims that “all hands were convulsed with laughter, little becoming the dignity of a court of justice.” no commentary followed the record of a justice of the peace who colloquially wrote out a warrant on the back of a yellow envelope. nor are there any asides connected to the story of an early jury that “absconded themselves, and went fishing” before returning at the close of evidence to convict for the unrecorded charge, which led to a sentence of ninety-nine years. Oceana’s name origin is uncertain. Some sources claim that it is due to Oceana’s coastline on Lake Michigan. at least one source claims that the name derives from The Model Commonwealth, a novel written by James Harrington during the time of Oliver cromwell in . It was reprinted before the american Revolution and again just before Oceana was organized. It was a book about building the perfect government. In  the county decided, by a vote of  to , to move the seat to Hart, which was reportedly named for Wellington Hart, a pioneer. It was not in the center of the county geographically, but it was in the middle of active early settlement. Pentwater, the main commercial center at the time, resisted the move and tried to gain the county seat designation . Its name is due to the narrow channel at the mouth of the lake of the same name, where the water is pent up. It went so far as to invite the board of supervisors to meet there in ,where they were met with a brass band,expensive cigars, and a sumptuous banquet. the efforts never proved successful, partly because Pentwater was also working against Shelby and Mears, two other contenders for the county seat. Hart quickly grew into a large settlement in its own right. a rim of high hills surrounding it delayed the arrival of the railroad until Hart offered $, in inducement for a spur from Mears in . two years later Hart erected a brick hotel to counteract detractors’ allegations that the seat lacked a fine hotel. Oceana County Oceana cOunty 144 the first courthouse and county offices in Hart were in the lower floor of the residence of Lyman B. corbin. In addition to offering the building, he paid $, for Hart to receive the seat. It was on the east side of Water Street near Mechanic. It was a simple peaked-roof structure measuring sixteen by twenty-four feet with no masonry foundation and built of rough boards with batter strips to cover the cracks. exterior steps led to the living quarters upstairs. the lower floor was one large room, and it is unclear how it functioned as both county offices and a courtroom. the corbin building was for public use from  to . the county in  rented the store building of a Mr. Leach for county offices. a late-night session of the board of supervisors on December , , approved a new court building. David Benham built it for $,. and delivered it on august , . the county spent an additional $ on a hot air furnace and heating system. Hart had raised a building fund of $,. In many ways this building was a larger version of the corbin building. On april , , many arrived on the courthouse...