Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-13
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| offices, borough or city, in the Dauphil
county courthouse there has been tall
about the city and county uniting II
an office building-some day. Tks
proposition for a joint courthouse and
city hall, or palais de justice and
rathaus. as City Clerk Miller once said
has appeared every ten years by thu
almanac and successive grand juriet
have discussed the conditions and
Illuminated against them in quarterly
reports to the courts. The presenH
movement appears to have behind II
some public sentiment, judging from
comments heard and the develops
ments will be interesting to watch,
The county is practically ont of debt
and the city always has q margin
when 1t wants to improve anything
The first courthouse was log house
at Front and Washington streets
where John Joseph Henry held court
in 1875. That was Dauphin county's
first year and 1t took some time fol
the infant county to get on its financial
pins and put up a building which
would vie with the courthouse of the
parent county of Lancaster. In 1890
the construction of courthouse on
the lot now occupied, donated for the
| purpose by John Harris. was authors
! lied and it took until 1899 to finish il
The. order book" is preserved and II
an interesting document, although Il
does not tell why such a long tims
| was taken. The accounts are in
pounds, shillings and pence and the
cost was something between Sc, 900 and
$1,000 in American coin. 1t was
two story brick building fronting in
Market street with wings for the clerk
of the courts and the recorder OF
deeds, much as at present. When the
! State government came to Harrisburg
in 1912 from Lancaster the town
people offered the use of the court
house for the Legislature and the
county officers moved into the borough
building in Second street near Locust
and into various offices and stores.
! The court was held in the old White
| Hall, now the Carlton and later in
brick structure on the present Jail
yard site. While the Legislature oc-
| cupied the building the State placed
rotunda and portico on the court
house to give it some style. The courts
stayed in the building on the site of
the present Jail until the completion
of the Capitol in 1922 and the old
courthouse, which is well remember
ed by some of the older citizens, es-
| pecially for it's dinky cupola and its
big rotunda, was replaced in 1860 by
the greater part of the present build
ing. Harrisburg was granted the
|
there was much talk about joint city
| and county building in the late fifties
and after the courthouse was started
The building cost $57, 800 and the city
was given the right to council cham
| bers and various other offices. Since
that time the courthouse has been
improved at considerable cost every
now and then and the, big addition
was built in 1894, when another dis
cussion on n city and county building
was heard. The city offices are now
in half dozen places and the county
needs more room in the courthouse.
With the selection to-day by Jury
Commissioners Dapp and Taylor and
Sheriff w. w. Caldwell of the sixty
common pleas court the final draw
ings of the year from the Dauphin
county wheel were completed. Only
1856 names remain in the wheel and
these will be taken out. and, according
to the usual custom, destroyed by the
sheriff and commissioners. Early in
December ono of the Dauphin county,
judges and the jury commissioners will
fill the wheel for next year, when 900
names will be empaneled, 800 each be-
ing suggested by the commissioners
and the court.
Clerks in the County Commissioners
Offices have sent out a "tip" by letter
to the various assessors throughout the
county urging them to turn in their
reports of Dauphin's military roll. The
report to the adjutant generals de-
parIment, the headquarters of the
National Guard, must be filed by No
Vember /, and the assessors returns
are desired by not later than October
27. The returns of the men of Dauphin
county who will be eligible for active
military service-all between the ages
of IS and 45-will be watched with
more than ordinary interest this year
in view of the preparedness talk,
COMPULSORY military and universal
training service discussions that are
going the rounds of the poolrooms and
the barber shops every time the news
papers print a dispatch relative to
moving troops from the Border.
Circulation of books among children
has been resumed on a pretty brisk
scale at the new Harrisburg Public
Library and the youngsters are maxi
ing some strenuous raids upon the
stack of books. During the period
when the Library was closed to chill
dren because of the infantile paralysis
outbreak there were a number of new
books added and some of the rebound
books were put back into circulation,
The schoolchildren are thronging to
the Library for the afternoons es-
pecially.
Friends of Frederic w. Flefta. for->
mer Deputy Attorney General and one
of the prominent figures in legal affairs
in Pennsylvania, will be glad to learn
that he is recovering from the op-
Grafton performed at Scranton. Mr.,
F'leitz will soon be able to resume his
practice.