Our Historic Court House (Daily Crescent News 5 Oct 1912)

Williams County, Court House Wayne Street, Defiance Ohio

    The U.S. Post Office Department, recently authorizes our postmaster, as its agent, to clear the site of the proposed local federal post office within a special time of short duration. Said he includes the plat of ground occupied by the old court house building, which was constructed in 1828. Acting in accordance with his instructions from the U.S. Post office Department, the postmaster served notice on the party who disposed of the ground occupied by the old court house to the U.S. government, to remove the building there and thus party has in turn sold the old building to a local man at private sale. This local man has announce that he intends tearing down the structure Monday, and disposing of the material constituting it to his best financial advantage. Every party connected with the proposed removal of the old court house. From the Post office Department down to the contractor who has purchased the building, are performing their respective parts in a perfectly legitimate matter, as they have a right to do, for which not even the tinge of criticism can be entertained by anyone. But there are some questing which have other than material sides to them. The destruction of the old court house in fraught with other than a material side, which is a sentimental one of more than passing notice. This building is so interwoven into the early history of Defiance city and county that it should be preserved as a relic of days gone by instead of being sent to the scrap pile after almost a century of continuous service. It first saw service 1828 in the capacity of a court house for Williams County eight year before what is now Defiance was even incorporate as a village and seven years before Defiance county organized in 1845. At the time of its At the time of its construction George Washington been dead but a decade; parts of the stockade and blockhouses were still standing. During the the early life of this courthouse there were but small number of houses at Defiance, which were mostly erected on blocks and called shanties; there were but few business houses, the entire settlement being congregated on the north bank of the Maumee opposite and northwest of the Fort Grounds, and not farther south them a couple squares from the Fort Grounds; less than a couple hundred white settlers, many of whom made their living trapping fur bearing animals and selling the pelts to traders, were outnumbered by the Indians; deer and bear abound, in the woods and thickets, and the wolves and wild cats still found refuge in the forest; travel was made by land on horseback and by water in canoes and pirogues, latter being tree dug-out; the jail, which was located on the ground now occupied by the county jail being a log affair, was in its time for its occasional escape of a Indian or white man. The famous Johnny Appleseed planted a orchard at the mouth of the Tiffin river opposite the Defiance Water Works, while this old court house was under course of construction. Most of these trees found their way to Florida (Ohio), below Defiance. All of our early lawyers tried suits in this courthouse, among them being Horace Session whose father fought under Anthony Wayne and assisted in conquering the Indians in Northwestern Ohio; William Semans, William Holgate, John H Semans, George W.B. Evans, John M. Stilwell, E.H. Leland; Judge Lane, who afterwards became judge of the supreme court of Ohio, and Judge Higgins, who succeeded him, tried cases in this same courthouse, also Curtis Bates who was later elected State Senator, Judge Latty and Phelps, were couple authorities for the statement that Morrison R. Waite who was nominated to the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President Grant was ratified by Congress, made his first speech in this old courthouse.