The Elgin Court House, 1853-1898.
The County of Elgin was established by an Act of the Legislature passed in August, 1851, and formed a union with Middlesex until County Buildings were erected. The provisional County Council held its first meeting in the Town Hall, St. Thomas, on April 15th, 1852. The first business was to erect a jail and Court House. Offers of building sites were received from Messrs. Curtis and Lawrence and Benjamin Drake. The Curtis sites were north of Talbot Street and West of East Street. The Lawrence site, two acres, included the lot on which the Post Office now stands. The Drake site appears to have been considered suitable before the county was formed as a deed from Benjamin Drake to Queen Victoria, dated the 25th of October, 1848, and registered the 30th of October, 1851, conveys the Jail and Court House Block to Her Majesty for public buildings for county and district purposes only. A resolution of the County Council shows that the final acceptance of this site depended on obtaining water at fifteen feet, failing this a new site was to be chosen. The location for the building on lot selected was next considered.
Petitions to front the buildings on Stanley Street were presented, but they were ordered to face north so as to stand parallel with the Talbot Road in front of Queen Street.
Plans were received from architects Thomas and Tully, of Toronto, and John Turner of Brantford.
The plans submitted by Mr. Turner were the same as for the Court House at Brantford, which he was building. These were adopted with some changes suggested by other plans before the council.
The contract was awarded to Garner Ellwood for £4,580, on the 19th June, 1852. The jail, jailor's house, etc., to be completed by the 15th September following, and the Court House on the 1st August, 1853.
The Building Committee consisted of the whole council, of which Messrs. Clark and Locker of Malahide, Ganson of Yarmouth, Skinner of Bayham, Munro of Southwold and Parish of St. Thomas, were the most active. Thomas Cheeseman was the architect's superintendent in charge of the work.
WARDEN LOCKER, 1852-1855
The jail was not completed until the spring of 1853, and on the 23rd of March Mr. Ellwood gave up the contract, £2,764 having been expended. The Warden was then authorized to proceed with the work which, with the exception of minor contracts, was completed by day labor, with Thomas Fraser, builder, of London, as superintendent. The Gaol as at first erected was not satisfactory, the plan being defective. This increased the cost and when the buildings were completed and furnished in 1854, the total expenditure was £11,405. Mr. Ellwood in tendering for the buildings was guided by the figures supplied by Architect Turner who was then erecting a court house at Brantford. In a subsequent report to the council Mr. Turner states that in the erection of the Brantford building he ruined himself, and that he could not have erected the Elgin buildings at a less price than they cost the county.
A Special Committee reported on completion of the work: "That after taking into consideration the advance in price of material and labor—that the buildings have been erected in as judicious and economical a manner as the circumstances would admit, and that the beautiful workmanship and design is not surpassed by any building in Canada west."
THE ELGIN COURTHOUSE, 1860.
The Royal Arms Rampant, which is very much admired, on the front of the Court House, is in size twelve feet by six feet, and cost £93. They were supplied by Messrs. Cochranes and Pollock of Toronto, from a sketch drawn by Mr. John M. Walthew who also painted the picture placed in the court room, the beauty of which the council acknowledged by special resolution in January 1855. Sculptured faces were placed in the east and west gables of the building. That in the west resembles Lord Elgin, after whom the county was named, and the other may be architect Turner but at present no one seems to know definitely who they were intended to represent.
In 1853 the Town Hall of the Village of St. Thomas was secured for court purposes on condition that any fittings, etc., required were to be supplied by the County, and left in the building when court house was completed. Plans of the new buildings and of the town hall were submitted to the statutory commissioners, and approved of as suitable for court purposes. On the 30th of September, 1852, a proclamation was published in the Official Gazette, dissolving the union of Elgin and Middlesex.
D. J. HUGHES, ESQ., COUNTY JUDGE, 1853.
The Officers appointed were:
Judge, David John Hughes.
Sheriff, Colin Munro.
Registrar, John McKay.
Clerk of Peace, James Farley.
Clerk of the Court, Peter Murtagh.
Jailor, John King.
County Clerk. William McKay.
County Treasurer, William Coyne.
County Engineer, Charles Fraser.
During November, 1853, the offices of the Sheriff, Clerk of the Peace and Clerk of the County Court were located in one room in the apartments erected for the Jailor.
On the 15th of November, 1853, the first court of quarter sessions of the County of Elgin opened at St. Thomas in the Town Hall, David John Hughes, County Judge, presiding. In opening the court, the Judge delivered the following address to the Grand Jury:
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury.——
"It is usual for the presiding Justice at our criminal courts to address to grand inquests, remarks upon the duties which have to be discharged by them. This being the first time we have met together in our relative capacities, I think the occasion a becoming one for congratulating you and the inhabitants of this fine county in general, in being now separated from the senior county for the transaction of all the judicial, municipal and other business of our inhabitants.
THE ELGIN COURT HOUSE BEFORE THE FIRE.
Anyone who has lived in what was the London district for twenty years, and who will look back upon the time when, with little better than a mere track to guide or assist them, most of the settlers were obliged to travel the primeval forests to distances of fifty or sixty miles to attend courts, and for other purposes in the way of business, and who now have public offices almost brought within reach of their own doors, cannot but feel thankful that a gracious Providence has favored the country and its inhabitants with such prosperity—a prosperity which is still on the increase, at a rate surpassing the expectations of the most sanguine.
If we look beyond the limits of our own county and view the Province at large, we see progress and prosperity, peace, contentment and general happiness surrounding us. We find the minds of the people progressing too, for with a bountiful provision for schools and a well ordered system, the rising generation are enabled, and doubtless will keep pace with their monetary prosperity.
The encouragement that agriculture has met with in an increased demand for the staple produce of the county, and remunerative prices will call for an improved system of tilling the fields. The encouragement given to manufactures by the increased consumption, justifies enterprise in an increase of fabrics; and all these call forth the necessary supply of improved and cultivated minds—so that enquiry is awakened, and the benefit of our schools and colleges is every year becoming more and more appreciated and will be so much better attended and encouraged, that they will themselves improve in their standard and tone, so that Canada in one or two generations will equal, if not successfully rival, parts of the world which are now considered amongst the freest and most contented.
COURT ROOM AFTER THE FIRE.
We enjoy a liberty in our civil and religious affairs which admits not only of a freedom of thought, but action. We can watch our very rulers, and have the means in our hands of curbing usurpation of power or infringements of rights by the privilege we can exercise of approving or disapproving of the advisers of the crown. We can worship the Almighty in our own way; no one venturing to disturb or make us afraid. We can educate our children almost entirely at the public expense, and place them within reach of the highest honors that their talents entitle them to, or that the country can bestow. The time has gone by for those honors to belong only to a class; or when promising aspirants can be successfully frowned upon by those who fancy that they hold a prescriptive right to them; and the time has arrived for men not to be judged by the occupations they are day by day employed in, but by the integrity of their purposes, the cultivation of their minds, the uprightness of their characters, and their successfulness in accomplishing some good for themselves and their fellow-men.
In entering upon the duties of the office I fill, I must confess my misgivings as to the ability to discharge them aright. They are onerous, responsible, and will be at times arduous and disagreeable. I depend upon the forbearance of those with whom I shall be brought in contact, and claim their assistance and advice when necessity shall suggest it. I desire to see the great body of the people, whose business or affairs shall be brought under my judicial notice, satisfied that justice and right are aimed at, however, I may fall short in administering them, and in my magisterial capacity I rely upon the aid of my brother magistrates to further these motives; for I doubt not that by mutually according to one another, integrity of purpose, (as I shall at times desire to attribute to them) we shall be able to accomplish much good in the way of checking vice and setting a good example to the several neighborhoods we respectively inhabit.
The County Buildings are not yet quite completed, but I am informed that before the next sessions, the Court may be held in them; and when finished I am satisfied they will not be surpassed in beauty, convenience and comfort by any in the Province."
The first Court of Quarter Sessions was held in the Court House, on the 5th of January, 1854, and on the 11th of April, in the same year, Hon. Justice Draper opened the first Court of Assize. Col. John Prince, Q. C., one of the lawyers in attendance at this Court, complimented the County on the magnificence of the Court House, which, he said, was unsurpassed by any Court House in the Province.
On June 7th, 1854, all of the offices in the Court House were occupied, and the building completed, with the exception of some painting and the erection of the Royal Arms.
The County Buildings remained the same until the gaol was rebuilt, and wall erected in 1872. This was followed by a new Registry Office in 1874, and a Gaoler's residence in 1889-1891. On the 1st of July, 1898, a fire occurred at midnight, destroying the roof and upper portion of the Court House, the whole building being damaged by water.
DANIEL LANG. Warden, 1898.
OSCAR McKENNEY. Warden, 1898.
ARCHIBALD J. LEITCH. Chairman Building Committee. 1898-1899.
NEIL R. DARRACH. Architect.
ROBERT CARROLL. Contractor.