Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1881-12-29
Some Facts About The
New Court House.
To the Tax Payers of Wood
County.

the County Board of Supervisors,
a resolution was passed appropri-
ating the sum of $4,000 for the
purpose of building a new Court
House, county offices and Jail, for
Wood county, and a building Com
mittee appointed, There can be
no serious question about the ne
cessity for such new building; the
county offices have for many
years been scattered all over town
and kept in unsafe wooden build
ings, for which the county pays
annually quite a large sum for
rent. the office of the Clerk OF
Circuit Court has been once de-
stroyed by fire with all its records
and files, and the Offices Of Register
of Deeds, County Treasurer, and
County Clerk, with all their valu-
able records are constantly expos
ed to like danger; the fire proof
safes in the different offices are too
few and too small to hold any con-
siderable portion Of the records
and files; the old Court House is
too small to accommodate all of
the County officers, and if there
was room in it for all, it is unfit
for such use, being a wooden
building, without any fire proof
vaults, and SO situated that in
case of fire in the night
time everything in it would be to
tally destroyed before help could
arrive; it is old, unsightly, and
inconvenient, and has long since
survived its usefulness for the pur-
pose for which it was erected;
the Jail is insecure, unhealthy,
haunted with unsavory oders, un-
fit for the habitation of any living
thing, and should have been con
demned years ago It's unnecess-
to say that the sum of $4,000
was a very small amount with
which to do the work proposed,
but the committee set to work, and
opened correspondence with many
different architects in Milwaukee,
Appelton, Fond du Lac, and
Green Bay, and finely settled
upon the plans proposed by ].
Nc Donnell architect, of Green
Bay, but the plans for building
which he first proposed which is
the same as that now being erect
ed could not be carried out with
solid brick and stone walls for the
sum named, SO the committee
suggested some notifications and
thought of building with wood
Veneered with brick in order to
bring the cost down to the appro-
priation. But suit was commenc-
ed, and the committee restrained,
before anything further could be
done under this first resolution,
and in some respects it is better
that this suit was brought The
county will now have much
better building then it could
possibly have had under the first
resolution.
On the 27th of April 1881, at a
regular meeting of the County
Board, the resolution hereinbefore
mentioned, and being the one
about which the first litigation
arose, was rescinded, and a new
resolution passed for the same
purpose, providing the sum of SIP
500 and the same building COM
mlttee re-appointed. Under this
resolution, the plans for a
stone and brick building, with jail,
sheriff's residence, county offices,
and five separate fre-proof vaults,
court room, jury rooms, attorneys
room and private room for Judge,
having been perfected, the contract
was let to Messrs. Braun & Meis-
ter, of Green Bay, for the sum of
SI2,5Oo they to furnish all material
and do all the work according
to specifications attached to con-
tract and have the building ready
Tor occupancy on or before Dec.
Ist 1881. Nc Donnell, the
architect was named in the contract
as superintendent, and the county
was to pay out of fund appropri-
ated, upon his estimate as the
work progressed; in the event of
failure to comply with terms of
contract, or complete the work in
tlme etc; the superintendent was
empowered to declare the contract
vacated and to take charge of the
work and all material and employ
men to complete the Job, charqing
the cost OF such completion to the
contractors, against the contract
price. The contractors commence
ed work Immediately and contin-
ued work under the contract until
November 22d at which time the
building was ready for the roof.
During this period of time they
drew orders to the amount of ST.
SIS to apply on the work done, all
OF which they claim to have paid
out tor labor and material, but the