Michigan's County Courthouses

Van Buren County

176 PAW PAW—A bas-relief likeness of Martin Van Buren looks out from above an entrance to the courthouse in the county named for him. He gazes across the street to the park where four posts mark the contours of his building’s predecessor, which was vacated and moved onto Main street. Van Buren, as secretary of state for President Andrew Jackson, was one of the men honored with a so-called Cabinet County in Michigan. His county was first set off, named, and attached to Cass County during Michigan’s territorial times.When Michigan became a state,Van Buren County was organized on March , . on May  of the same year, the board of supervisors first met in Lafayette. By  its name would change to Paw Paw for the abundant fruit of the same name along the Paw Paw River. Lawrence, which is nine miles west, wanted the county seat and had some claim to it on paper during territorial times. But court was never held and no county buildings ever erected there. An  act of the Legislature settled all doubt and selected Lafayette, though the controversy would run for decades as the county seat question periodically flared hot. the county paid $ for use of a schoolhouse in Lafayette for the court. in January  it approved $ for another year of use of the private building of Joshua Bangs for county offices. in April  it awarded a contract of $, to Reuben e. Churchill and stafford godfrey to complete woodwork and $ to Henry W. Rhodes to do masonry work for the courthouse. Van Buren expected work to take about eighteen months, but it took about three years, with court probably first convening in the new building for its June  term. the white frame two-story building with a peaked roof would serve its function for fifty-five years.After the county vacated it, it was moved about two blocks to a commercial location and converted into a feed store. it later became the village hall, a role it continues to fill. Four posts mark the corners where the courthouse once stood on land that is now a public park. Atop the posts are copper ornaments that are also on the current courthouse. in  the county spent $, and citizens in and around Paw Paw contributed another $, to erect a fireproof brick building for county records. this building is now a museum that displays the contents of the  corVan Buren County VAN BUReN CoUNty the 1840s courthouse was moved two blocks from the courthouse lawn to its present location, where it serves as a village hall. 177 nerstone of the current courthouse. seventy-two items, including a forty-five-star flag, a tiny Bible, walnuts, and buckwheat or corn (local historians disagree, and efforts to germinate the seeds have been unsuccessful), presumably for absorbing moisture, were found inside the stone. Before the stone could be laid, the county had to settle funding for construction, as well as the persistent county seat question.it is believed that for many years a majority of voters would have favored a move from Paw Paw, but suitors could never muster the requisite two-thirds vote of the county supervisors. that changed in  when Paw Paw’s supervisor reportedly threw his support behind a vote so that the public could once and for all settle the question. Now Paw Paw’s main competitor was south Haven. A spirited—some say bitter—campaign followed. First south Haven offered $, in bonds to help pay for construction . Paw Paw countered with a matching offer. Perhaps mindful of the two towns’ generosity, voters in April  rejected by a large majority a bond proposal of $,. At the same time, they narrowly voted down a move of the seat from Paw Paw by a tally of , to ,. A special election in July approved a county loan of $,. it was time to build. thousands gathered in Paw Paw on september , , for the laying of the cornerstone, many of whom took advantage of special rail rates. Hon. Frank t. Lodge of Detroit was the featured orator, who said the following. We lay here today something besides a mere material block of senseless stone. We also commend to erect an unseen but nonetheless substantial temple of human character, which is more stable than the strongest ramparts the cunning workmanship of man can build. in the unseen structure every man and woman of this county must fill his own place. Claire Allen of Jackson designed the courthouse in...