History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

184

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

bined were built on the lot where the present jail now stands. The first
story was constructed of squared logs or timbers, surmounted with a
framed second story. The lower story was used as a jail and the upper
story as a court room. The prison cells were made of six inch oak planks
sawed by Almon Mack in his saw-mill at Rochester. The sheriff's home
also adjoined the court room in the upper story of that building, and
those upper rooms were not finally completed until about 1830, when the
board of supervisors finally caused the court room to be graced with a
modern 'up-to-date' finish of lath and plaster.
"But even that palatial court house did not satisfy the progressive
people of this county long. As early as 1835 the building was indicted
by the grand jury, and the struggle for a new court house began. Efforts
were made by the board of supervisors that year to get the legislative
council of the territory to authorize a loan for that purpose. The authority for such loan was secured but the board of supervisors finally refused
to negotiate the loan. The matter was before that board again in I837.
The board voted to submit the matter to a vote of the people in the fall
of 1838, but nothing finally resulted from that effort. In April, 1844,
the electors of the county voted down a proposition to raise $8,000 for
a new court house. The matter was frequently before the board of
supervisors after that. In the spring of 1852 a proposition to raise the
necessary funds for a new court house was again voted down by the electors of the county. In the spring of 1854 a similar proposition was again
rejected by the people. But finally in'the spring of I856 the people by
a vote of 2,277 to 744 authorized the building of the present court house
During the year of I856 the contract for the erection of this building
was let to D. J. Pratt for $I2,594.
"In 1848 Solomon Close entered into a contract to erect a building
for county officers for the sum of $937.50 and it was probably erected
during that year. That was a long one story wooden building situated in
front of where this building stands, with a roof sloping to the front, surmounted with a balustrade fifty-nine feet long on which were painted in
large letters the words, 'Oakland County Offices.' That building was
used for county offices until the present court house was completed.
"In 1847-8 Solon B. Comstock built a new jail building for the county,
for the sum of $5,539.5I. That structure was replaced by the present
very creditable jail building, only a few years ago. In 1874 the fireproof vaults now in this court house, were constructed at an expense of
about five thousand dollars.
"The old court house was badly cared for. At the time this one was
built the benches and tables were badly worn and had been carved in a
disrespectful way by pioneer jack knives. The boys of the first generation in this county seem to have had much more license in the use of their
'Whittles,' as Burns calls them, than have the children of the present day.
Judge Crofoot speaks in his dedication address of the old court house
as then 'tottering on its foundation' and as having 'both graced and disgraced our county.'
"On March 9, 1858, after the dedication ceremonies, a jury was impanelled for the trial of the three Tulley boys on the charge of having
murdered their father; and the next eight days were devoted to the