Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1902-08-28


and that year all that part of that
county lying south of the Wisconsin
river was established as the cotnty of
Iowa with it's county seat at Mineral
Point The new county embraced what
is now Iowa, Grant and Lafayette
counties and the greater part Of Green
county, nearly half Of Dane and por-
ton Of Columbia.
By an act OF Congress passed in 1886,
the Territory of Wisconsin was
formed. The. new territory included
within it's limits the present state, all
of what is now Iowa and Minnesota
and part of the Dakotas. At the first
session of the Territorial legislature
held at Belmont in the latter part OF
1886, law was passed which cut off
from Iowa county all Of that part OF 1T
|'west of the fourth principal meridian,
and formed it into new county named
Grant. This law named commissioners
to fix the seat of justice of Grant coun-.
ty, and they decided that it should be
the present court house square, being
partly induced to do so by resident
Of Cassville, one Glendower M. Price.
who owned the land upon which most
of the city of Lancaster now stands.
In anticipation of the county seat be-
ing esta blished here he had laid the
land out in lots and blocks, although
at the time he plated the village Of
Lancaster it had but a single inhabi-
tant, one Aaron Boice.
The act organizing the territory re-
quired the governor to have a census
of the Inhabitants taken before an
election was held. This was done and
the population of the four counties
within our present state was, Iowa
1924, Milwaukee 1898, Brown 27O6,
Crawford $50, total of 1883. When
we consider the extent Of Iowa county
and it's population, and the fact that
at the election for county officers in
Grant county in 1887 but about 300
votes were cast, and that the inhabi-
tants at that time were nearly all men,
the first white woman having come to
the county as late as 1927, we can safe
ly say that the inhabitants OF the cOun-
ty at it's origin we're considerably less
than two thousand. The land within
the county was at that time nearly all
owned by the government. What had
been purchased by individuals was of
little market value, and the people
we're poor in personal property. The
first court house, structure 36 feet
square and two stories high, was fin
ished in 1888 at cost of So 1920, and the
jail was completed the same year at a
cost of $500. When we bear in mind that
all the land owned by the government
was untaxable, and the small amount
of taxable property there must have
been in the county it is evident that it
was greater burden upon it's tax pay
ers to erect those buildings than it
would be for us to pay for court
house costing half million dollars.
In that first court house Charles Dunn
of Mineral Point, chief justice of the
territory, held the terms of court I'M
til Wisconsin became state in lS4S.
By 1852 this building had become unit
for. use. and was too dilapidated to war
rant repairing it. 1t was torn down
and new one was constructed which
was finished in 1858. That became the
back part of the court house taken
down last winter; the three story front
having been built in 1866.
1t had been known for many years
that the vaults of this court house were
unsafe and that more vault room was
needed. but there had been no agita-
ton for building new one when the
County Board met in November, 1900.
The committee on county property up
on which providentially there was no
one from Lancaster, for if there had
been the report they made might not
have been thought disinterested) after
thoroughly examining the court house
became convinced that new one was
an imperative need and that the peO-
pies money should not be wasted in
repairing the old one. The conclusion
they came to was not anticipated, but
when their report was made recon-
mending the building of a court house
the County Board were convinced that
the committee were right and adopted
their report by large majority. A
committee was appointed to examine
some of the modern court houses Of
the state in order to determine the
character of the building to be con-
structed and it's probable cost, and to
report to an adjourned meeting of the
board in January, 1901. The commit
tee at the adjourned meeting made
their report, but for various reasons
the majority Of the board were adverse
to immediate action and the question
of building a court house was post
poned to the regular November session
following. At that session, by ma
jority of one, the board decided to
build a court house at once at a cost
not to exceed $4,000 and appointed a
building committee with full powers.
There was scarcely a member of the
board but realized the necessity of a
new court house, and those who had
voted in the minority differed from the