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St. Clair County
- University of Michigan Press
- Chapter
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170 PoRt HURoN—if, as some philosophers believe, one can never step into the same river twice, one wonders if it is possible to hear the same bell ring more than once. in Port Huron, there is a spot where these abstract questions are in plain view. st. Clair County was established during territorial times in . some sources claim that the name is for general Arthur st. Clair, the first governor of the Northwest territory. others say that the name derives from the lake and the river that French explorer La salle named. He chose, as was usual practice at the time, the name of the saint whose day it was when La salle passed on August , which is the day of st. Clair. english maps first gave “st. Clare”as the place’s name, but by it was appearing with its present spelling. the village of st. Clair was the first county seat, which was called Palmer for a while but never officially registered with the postal service. Court was first held at the home of James Fulton, who also built by his house the first jail, which he used additionally as a root house. in –, the first two-story courthouse was built with logs covered with clapboard. the county paid Charles Phillips and Daniel stewart $ for the building, with the Legislature contributing $.the second story was not finished and a stairway not installed until . the jail was on the lower floor. in a small addition on the south end was finished, and the entire upper floor was converted into a large courtroom. An early case contested the ownership of two similarly aged and marked calves. one answered to Ruby and the other to Rosa. But only one calf was before the court, and it had to be decided to whom it belonged. A colorful attorney quipped that a judge could easily recognize the difference between the names “but it would be otherwise with a calf educated in the country.” it is unknown if this attorney won the case, but it was recorded that“even Judge green let himself smile.” theoldcourthousewasdestroyedbyfirein.Abrick replacement cost $,,which citizen contributors paid for mostly under the leadership of Harmon Chamberlin. the brick building was dedicated in . the southern end of the county wanted the seat closer to them. the first proposal to move the seat came in , and the struggle ebbed and flowed for nearly fifty years. Port Huron, which was once called Desmond, was the chief rival. the courthouse fire revived the dispute, which led to an vote to move, which was frustrated by an injunction and the Michigan supreme Court. in , the county board approved removal if Port Huron would finance the buildings. Port Huron obliged, and the vote carried , to . Again, the Michigan supreme Court overturned the vote, based this time upon the wording of the ballot. Port Huron opted for an end run around the opposition . in october , the board overwhelmingly and the voters narrowly (, to ,) approved a move to a third location: smith’s Creek.Authorities never took any concrete action to effectuate the move. instead, the very same month the board voted for removal to Port Huron. Months later, in a special election, the voters approved, , to ,. Port Huron offered use of rooms in the third ward school building for county offices and the court. st. Clair filed suit to stop the move, and an injunction St. Clair County st. CLAiR CoUNty 171 st. CLAiR CoUNty was entered. A probate judge, meanwhile, moved records to Port Huron. other records did not move so easily. Rumors of armed confrontation swirled. But cooler heads prevailed ; as one account describes, the competing factions “agreed to stack their guns and await the decision of the court.” eminent lawyers from the state argued the case, and in october the “unhappy controversy” ended when the Michigan supreme Court upheld the move. For Port Huron, the third time was a charm, and the seat remains there. the school that was offered burned down, but the papers were saved. the many county offices were strewn about town as Port Huron’s plans to build a city hall were aired, and the county was promised space in the building . the cornerstone was laid on october , , on land where the McMorran Auditorium now stands. the building was completed in February , at a cost of $,. officially, it was called the County Courthouse, but locals always called it City Hall. it was designed in the grand tradition of many...