The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-12-08
County COMMISSIONS. T. 'er 1nde-
pendent School Distric, land
$4,000 for School H., ~
$4,000 TO BE
EXPENDED FOR SCHOOL
Present Building at County Seat
Owned by Village of Bagley;
is Inadequate.

Bagley, Mimi, Dec. Sat meet
ing of the board of county commits
sioners late yesterday afternoon it
was decided to exchange with the In
dependent School District No. 2, the
present court house block for the
school house and to pay an additional
consideration of $4,000. The coun-
ty will use the school house as a
court house.
Votes $4,000 for School.
The school district recently voted
$4,000 in bonds to be used for the
construction Of a new school house
as the district has outgrown it's pres
ent location. Under the plan sub
mitted to the school district by the
county commissioners the district
will be able to expend $4,000 on a
new school building and will have a
site. The county in turn will have
an excellent building to be used az
a court house.
Has No Court House.
When Clearwater county was set
off from Beltrami county there were
no funds available for the construc-
ton of a court house. Mr.. White, of
the White & Streeter Townsite COM
pany of Bagley, donated to the county
block in the village Of Bagley to
be used for court house. The vii
lage of Bagley then donated the city
hall building and the citizens by do
nations had the building moved to
the court house block. The building
has ever since 1903 been used as a
court house.
Is Two-story Structure.
1t is two-story frame structure.
On the first floor are located the
county auditor, treasurer, register Of
deeds and clerk of court offices. On
the second floor is the court room, a
small room to be used as the judges
chamber and another small room for
the jury. The sheriff, county attor-
ney, superintendent Of schools, sur
veyor and judge of probate have not
been able to find room in the present
building so offices have been secured
in several buildings away from the
court house. The room on the Sec
ond floor of the present court house
that is supposed to be the jury room
is so constructed that there is no de-
gree of secrecy and deputy sheriffs
have had to be stationed to keep the
public from getting too near the
walls of the room to hear what was
going on inside. Rooms have had
to be rented down town to be used for
both The grand and petit jury.
No Vault Space.
When court is not in session the
judge of probate has used the court
rooms But he has had no vault
and many of the valuable records of
his office have been exposed to loss
by fire.
The county surveyor has been
using the jury room but as there has
been no vault provided the records
of his Office are at the mercy Of a
fire.
No Heating Plant.
The present court house building
has no heating plant, except stoves,
which makes the danger of fire great.
Only two vaults are in the present
building, one constructed on the out
side. There is great deal of county
property and valuable papers that
cannot be placed in these vaults and
fire would destroy everything, caus-
ing a large loss. It would be impos-
sible to replace large portion of the
Records
Only One Stairway.
The present court house building
has only one stairway leading to the
court room and if fire would burn
the stairway it would endanged the
lives of many, were the court in ses-
sion.
The people of the county have
realized for some time the need of
a new building to properly and ade-
quately house the county officers and
their records.
Owing to the fact that Independent
School District No. has outgroWn its
present school building, it has become
necessary for it to secure a new
school building. The present build
ing was constructed when material
was cheaper than it now is. The
county commissioners have made the
suggestion of exchanging the present
school house building and grounds
for the court house block and $10,-
900. The location of the school
property and the court house square
are such that there is no advantage
to either by reason of location.
Easy to Improve. e
The school house is so constructed
IT'S will be easy to rearrange the rooms
and provide adequate vault space and
very convenient Offices for all tht
county officers. The school building
Is practically new and the condition