Pottsville, Pennsylvania

This is the county’s third courthouse, the second on this site. The first courthouse was a two-story brick structure built at a total cost of $5,000. It was a simple building with the courtroom on the first floor, and jury rooms and public offices on the second. The first court was held there in 1816. In 1846 the ground at Second and Sanderson Streets was selected for the erection of the new courthouse. On this site stood the homestead of George Farquhar, a prominent member of the county bar. In this house his son, Guy E., who also was destined to become a prominent county attorney, was born. In 1914 Guy, while arguing a case, was suddenly stricken ill and died on the very spot of his birth.

The current courthouse is adjacent to the courthouse it replaced, which was vacated and eventually torn down upon completion of the new structure. A massive cornerstone about two cubic feet in size took more than an hour to maneuver into place when it was laid in 1889. It contains a large hollow space filled with artifacts from 1889, such as a copy of the construction contract; copy of the bond issue; copy of the rules of court; trial list for September, 1889 term; photograph of the first courthouse built in Pottsville; bottle of Catawba wine made by Court Crier Seitzinger in 1886; several old coins; and a list of County officials and their employees. The five-story Romanesque structure constructed from Ohio sandstone cost $320,000, almost $180,000 over the initial estimate.