The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1910-11-03
COURT HOUSE
BADLY NEEDED
IN OPINION OF ED'-nRS WALKER
AND HO IN.
BEST INTERESTS 5 THE COUNTY
&c
DEMAND SAFE Q ACE FOR THE
VALUABLE CO s TT RECORDS.



In last weeks s "a Tribune Editor
Horton. writing 6 a personal vein,
came out strongly in favor of a new
courthouse for Brookings county. Mr..
Horton said in part:
-Four years ago I voted for the
bonds and shall again this year be-
cause l believe that it is for the best
interests of the county to have a new
court house.
The old building is inadequate, un-
safe and unSanitary. 1t was all right
in the early days when the country
was young and when the people of
the county We're poor and before the
elements had begun their deadly work
of decay. Today the vaults are not
only crowded beyond all reason, but
they are unsafe, and if a fire should
destroy the building, the vaults would
crumble almost as dust and there
would be nothing left of the valuable
records of Brookings county but a
pile of rubbish. Then what would be
the cost?
"In July 1895 the court house of
Grant county was destroyed by fire
and a part of the records were burn
ed. In July of this year, 10 years
after hat fire, while visiting with
the clerk of courts he told me that
at this time he frequently is obliged
to make affidavits that to the best
of his knowledge and belief" such
and such records were destroyed by
fire. Does Brookings county desire to
undergo an ordeal of that kind? 1t
think not.
Anyone who has examined the
vaults in the present court house,
and has noticed the construction of
the chimneys in the third story of
the building, knows that if there
should be a fire, there is nothing UNI
der the canopy Of heaven that would
save the flimsy constructed vaults
from being demolished by tn tons
of brick and mortar that must fall
from these huge chimneys upon them.
Several years before / came to
this county to live / spent two days
in Bookings attending a grand lodge
session of one of the fraternal orders
of the state. 1t was before the new
opera house was built and it was
necessary to hold the meetings in the
court room. A city that entertains
a grand lodge session or a conven-
ton of any kind expects to get some
good advertising as a result. Did
Brookings and Bookings county on
that occasion? No, there was not a
man who went away from Brook
ings at the time who was not thor
oughly disguised at the unpleasant
conditions of the meeting place and
Al. ;naIo1,tN Intn1 aoonvo tnnAInt
The Brookings meeting is to this day
looked back upon with corn, although
the local members of the order did
everything they could to make things
agreeable, but they could not with
the facilities at hand. That C
sion was a good thing for B%rookings
in one way, however, because 1t re-
suited in the fraternal orders of the
city taking matters into their own
hands and they built the opera house
there.
"Of course an issue of 100000
seems large, and it is large, but it
will be spread over a long term Of
years and the amount OF taxation
will be Insignificant in comparison to
the cost of replacing valuable records
in case they should be destroyed.
Some feel that the commissioners
can build a suitable building for less
than 500, 900, but the commissioners
have investigated other court houses
and have ascertained what they cost,
and have found that buildings that
have cost from seventy to eighty thou
sand dollars are not large enough and
that the people Of the counties that
have those buildings are sadly re-
GREETING that they did not build larger.
I have confidence in our commission
ers and do not think that they would
approve of a building that they do not
believe the occasion requires.
There is objection to the county
paying five per cent of the cos Of
the building to the architect for his
plans, specifications and architectural
supervision, but I understand that
this price includes the time of the
architect who will be on the ground
to superintend the erection Of the
building. This is the regular stated
charge for such work. Lewis john
son, the county commissioner from
this district, Is thoroughly convers-
ant with all the details of this part
of the question and he will be glad
to enlighten any one who may wish
information.
"One thing is certain. II the bond
issue Is voted down the commission
ers will be obliged to rebuild and en-
large the present vaults and other
wise make the court house suitable
for present needs. but after they
have done all this and have spent sew
eral thousand dollars, what will they
have? Nothing but the old shell
which IL not in keeping with n Of
the most prosperous counties Of the
great state OF South Dakota.
"This is all I am going to say In
advocacy Of the question. but I hope
that u west side voters will look
upon the matter from al unparalleled