The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-05-15
Relocation Of the County Seat.

Relocation of the County Seat.
In view of the proposition submitted
by the board of supervisors to vote up
on the building of new court house,
considerable talk has come to our ears
regarding the readiness of some of the
neighboring towns to build the court
house themselves. No responsible
proposition of this kind has been or we
presume will be made. 1t is not likely
that any considerable number of voters
seriously contemplate the changing of
the county seat. This talk is simply in
tended to influence, if possible, voters
in the vicinity of those towns to vote
against the building of new court
house at Leon.
1t occurs to US, however, that con-
.sideration of the obstacles in the way Of
changing the county seat might be
profitable as demonstrating its lmprac.
ticability tc those who have never given
the matter serious consideration.
In the first place it must be remem-
bered that the building of court house
at any other point than Leon would not
remove the county seat. The county
seat was permanently located by spe.
cial act of the legislature in 1858 at Leon
and can never be removed except by a
vote of the majority of the legal voters
in the county as shown by the last CEN
sus. Sections 396 to 402 of the code of
Iowa provide the procedure which must
be had in such cases. A petition would
have to be signed and presented to the
board of supervisors by one-half of all
the legal voters in the county before a
vote could even be ordered and in case
of remonstrance those signing both the
petition and the remonstrance would be
counted only upon the remonstrance.
See section 39S. The impracticability of
procuring such a petition even will be at
once apparent. Very few of the citizens
in the east part of the county would
care to have the county seat moved fur.
Their west when they had really given
the matter serious consideration, and
likewise very few of the citizens in the
west part of the county would care to
have the county seat moved to the ex.
IRENE northeast corner of the county.
County seat fights are very expensive
and dlstracting and the obstacles in the
way of removing county seat are so
numerous not only as matter of law
but as matter of fact that we do not
believe that any considerable number of
Intelligent citizens in this county seri.
ously believe that such thing would
be either practicable or advisable.
But there are other objections which
may not be generally known. The act
OF 1853 providing for the location of the
county seat of this county made the 10.
cation conditioned upon the convey
,ance to the county of 40 acres for town
site. In pursuance of that act S. G.
Thompson, who owned the 40 acres up
on which the original town of Leon is
now situated conveyed the same to the
county for county purposes. The 40
acres was plated into town lots and
sold and the proceeds applied to the
building of court house. This act of
1858 provided that Leon should be the
permanent seat of justice in Decatur
county. Our supreme court has held
that if land has been conveyed to the
county for public use under the condi-
nent it should be reconveyed to the
grantor in case of the removal. See
Twitord VS.. Allamakee County, Green,
80. The question arises what would be
the effect of a county seat upon the
title to these 40 acres of land which was
conveyed byS. G. Thompson to the coun.
ty for county seat purposes and the
proceeds of which was applied TO public
use. This 40 acres of land is worth to.
day at a low value half million dollars;
if it should be held that the title to this
land reverted to the original grantors
by reason of the removal of the county
seat, then there is no doubt but what
the county would be liable to the pres
ent owners of the land for the value
thereof, in such a case the county might
be held liable for one.half million dol
lars. We do not state this as settled
proposition but as only proposition
upon which endless litigation would
arise between the county and the own
ers of said property which might easily
cost the county, even if they won the
cases, one-half as much as new court
house would cost. But supposing the
court should not go so far as to hold
that the title reverted to the grantor,
there is no doubt but what at least they
would hold the county liable as trus-
tee to the heirs of S. G. Thompson for
whatever the county received for the
sale of the original town site and that
the public square, which is worth at
least $4,000, would revert to the heirs
of s. G. Thompson. There is no propo-
sition of law better settled than that if
property is taken for certain use and
the use is abandoned and the proceeds
converted to other purposes, that the
grantee is liable as trustee for the pro-
ceeds of the value of the property with
6. per cent interest. Forty years have
elapsed since s. G. Thompson decided
this 40 acres to Decatur county. Phe
records having been destroyed by fire
in 1873 it is somewhat difficult to ascer-
tain just what amount of money was re.
ceived by the county from the sale of
these town lots. 1t was sufficient to
build the original court house, which
stood south of the square. This, with
per cent interest for 40 years, and the
value of the present square in Leon,
would probably amount to $4,000 or