Michigan's County Courthouses

Manistee County

114 ManIStee—the predecessor to Manistee county’s current courthouse must have been much beloved, for its cornerstone was saved after a ruinous fire and permanently affixed to the lobby of the new building. even more telling, when the sheriff rushed in during the fire to release the eight prisoners, he told them to go home, but they remained to help fight the blaze. Some claim that Manistee means spirit of the woods, for the sound of wind blowing through the forest. Others claim that it denotes a river at whose mouth are islands. Whatever the name’s beginnings, the county started by act of the Legislature in . earlier, it was part of Mackinac, Ottawa, Oceana, and grand traverse counties. Its population in  was . By , it was ,. In  it bought some land and contracted for construction of a jail, courthouse, and sheriff’s residence for $,. William Magill built the jail, but then the county withdrew from the contract. He reached a settlement with it in October . the jail later burned. Sheriff Sam Potter reportedly received prisoners and asked them if they wanted to escape. When he heard no, he showed them the key, told them to be inside each night of their sentence, and said that he’d break every bone in their bodies if they tried to escape. During the day they pursued fishing or some other amusement while carrying the key, and they faithfully returned by night. thomas J.Ramsdell arrived as the first attorney.He was clerk of the Michigan Supreme court in  and came on the advice of chief Justice Martin, who also selected the law books that Ramsdell should pack. He came from and was educated in new york, arriving in Manistee at about the age of twenty-seven on a one-horse sleigh with an old gray horse pulling him and his law books. He traded the horse and sleigh for forty acres and got to work, drawing up the first legal papers in the county records. He had a long and distinguished career as a leading citizen who served many roles, including judge, state legislator, county treasurer, and prosecutor. In  circuit court was held in a small room called Burpee’s Hall over a billiard saloon. One writer described the setting as follows.“the click of the billiard balls chimed in sweet harmony with the forensic eloquence inspired by coke and Blackstone, while the inspiration below would sometimes become so high that the court would dispatch the sheriff to put them down.” the clerk was in a small corner room south of the bridge and the treasurer was nearby in canfield’s store “with the funds in a safe so unsafe, that some scamp, with the aid of a knife or a similar instrument, cut his way in and scooped the deposits.” the next circuit court was at eliss’s Hall, then at thurber’s Hall “where the winds whistled at the court and helped the counsel howl at the jury, while the witnesses had the truth froze out of them around the stove.” court then moved back to eliss’s Hall before trying its hand in a congregational church. It then “slid back” to eliss’s Hall, followed by city Hall, where it “tarried long enough to take breath, and then the circuit court was hustled up to the temperance Hall,” where it was “sandwiched” between temperance lectures, prayers, shows, and dances. Matters improved by the late s. the county began building a Victorian style court in  for about $,. It was made of Illinois sandstone and red-faced brick from Manistee County ManIStee cOunty 115 ManIStee cOunty the kiln of a brickyard in eastlake, Michigan. Watkins & Hidden of Bay city were the architects, while Fry & Washer of grand Rapids were the general contractor. When the courthouse was completed in January , it stood on a hill of heavy clay soil at the center of the city. It measured seventy-two by eighty-eight feet, and from the ground to the top of the spire was about one hundred thirty-two feet. a furnace, the holding cells, and the sheriff’s residence were in the basement. the second story housed county offices. On the third floor was the courtroom, which measured forty-six by seventy feet with a thirty-eight-foot ceiling. groomed grounds contained by an iron fence surrounded the building. the cornerstone contained the clerk’s seal, a copy of the Manistee City Times, and four coins—an  half-dollar , an  three...