1910 Wilkes-Barre Record Almanac, OLD COURT HOUSE HISTORY

The following Luzerne County court house history is taken as extracts from an address 
delivered before the Wilkes-Barre Board of Trade by Oscar J. Harvey, June 1, 1909:

Up to the Summer of 1776 the inhabitants of Wilkes-Barre had not erected either a town
 hall, court house or jail.  Courts were held in a private house, in an inn, or in one of the 
forts which stood on the bank of the river between the years 1769 and 1744.  At a town 
meeting held August 28, 1776, the inhabitants resolved that a fort should be built.  The 
authorized committee selected as a site for the proposed structure the southern triangle, 
or quarter, of the Center Square, and there the fort was built – near where the the 
Geological Survey monument now stands.  The structure, which was not completed until
 the Spring of 1778, was a small affair, embracing a little more than one-fourth of an acre
 of ground.  Ranged along the inside of its wooden walls were barracks, a strong room 
used for a guard house, or jail, and a good-sized room used for the court house in the 
newly-erected county of Westmoreland.  After the battle of Wyoming (July 3, 1778), and
 the surrender of this fort (which was known as Fort Wilkes-Barre) to the British and Indians, 
it was burned by the latter.  Center Square then remained vacant for a number of years, 
so far as we know.

In September, 1788, the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed an Act erecting the County 
of Luzerne; in which Act Col. Zebulon Butler and four other citizens were named as a 
Committee, or Board of Trustees, to select a site and erect thereon a court house and 
a jail for the new county.

It having been settled to the satisfaction of the Trustees and others that Wilkes-Barre was, 
by the Act of the Legislature, intended to be the county seat, the Trustees naturally selected 
for the site of the new building the section of Center Square whereon Fort Wilkes-Barre had stood.

Early in 1788 the work of erecting the building was begun.  It was of rude construction, 
being built of logs and heavy planks.  By the end of the year it was enclosed, so that it 
could be used for the purposes for which it had been erected.  It continued in an unfinished 
state, however, until January, 1790, when the Trustees entered into a contract with John 
Hollenback of Wilkes-Barre “to finish and complete the court house and gaol” for the sum 
of #89, 2s. 6d.  Mr. Hollenback finished his work some time in 1791.  The building as
 thus completed consisted of two stories and an attic, the walls being 24 x 30 feet, and 
16 feet in height.  The first story contained the living rooms of the jailer, back of which 
were the jail rooms – two medium-size apartments, containing two windows covered 
with iron gratings.  The court room was on the second floor, being reached by an outside
 stairway, or flight of steps.

This building was in continual use until 1801, when the County Commissioners decided to
 build a new court house.

By an Act of the State Legislature, passed March 17, 1806, the borough of Wilkes-Barre was
 erected, and February 8, 1809, the town committee previously mentioned conveyed Center 
Square to the borough of Wilkes-Barre, under authority received from the proprietors of the township.

In the Summer of 1801, the old log court house was removed by the County Commissioners
 from the southern to the northern quarter of Center Square, and the work of erecting the new 
court house was begun, the old building being occupied meanwhile for county purposes.  The
 new building was completed early in 1804, and was a much more pretentious structure than its
 predecessor – although it was only 63 x 53 feet in size, and two stories in height.  It was built in
 the form of a Greek cross – being modeled after the court house at Frederick, Maryland.  It was
 sheathed with one-inch boards, grooved and beveled in imitation of blocks of stone – the grooves
 being painted white, and the remainder of the building red.  Joseph Hitchcock was the builder.

In 1854 it was determined to build a new court house.  Considerable opposition to erecting the 
building on the “Square” was manifested by the people of Wilkes-Barre as is evidenced by the 
following item printed in The Record of the Times (Wilkes-Barre), November 28, 1855:  “The
 majority of the people we believe to be opposed to placing it (the new court house) on the Public 
Square, but the people have masters in Democracy, and are likely to be overruled.  It will be a 
cause of regret hereafter, that the court house is put on the ‘Square.’”

The cornerstone of this building was laid August 12, 1856, with the ceremonies of Free Masonry
 and an address by the Hon. John N. Conyngham, President Judge of the Courts of Luzerne County.

By authority of an Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature the borough of Wilkes-Barre, on April 1, 1857, 
issued $20,000 of six per cent, bonds to the County of Luzerne as a contribution toward the cost of 
erecting the new court house.  The borough, in return, was to be furnished, rent free, with a room in 
the building in which the meetings of the Town Council could be held.

Early in January, 1859, the building was so far completed that it could be occupied and dedicated; 
but it was not until late in 1860 that the building was completed in all its parts, while the clock and 
bell were installed early in 1861.

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Transcribed by Joanne Case, January 14, 2009