Courthouse will be re-dedicated Dec. 19
posted 12/08/2006
A re-dedication ceremony of the San Juan County Courthouse will be held at noon on December 19, 2006 in the commissioners hearing room. The hanging of the Centennial Quilt will follow the ceremony. The quilt will be permanently displayed in the Courthouse. After the ceremonies, everyone is invited to a Traditional High Tea Luncheon. Come as you are or dressed as they did in 1906, the year the courthouse was constructed.
The "History of the Courthouse" will be in the lobby of the Courthouse from December 18, 2006 to January 19, 2007. For more information call Christine Miller at 378-4310 or email info@sanjuancountyfair.org
The San Juan County Courthouse 1906 - 2006
100 Years as Our House of Law and Order
By Nancy Larsen
posted 12/08/2006
For one hundred years the San Juan County Courthouse has occupied the promontory overlooking the commercial hub of Friday Harbor. Austere and stately, the brick Courthouse has served as the county’s seat of government, "our house of law and order," as islanders called it, where the civic, legislative, and judicial affairs of San Juan County were conducted for 75 years.
Friday Harbor was chosen as the county seat when San Juan became a county in 1873. Until 1906 the affairs of the new county were conducted in various wood frame buildings on Spring Street, the last a two-story building at the southeast corner of First and Spring Streets.
By 1903, the building was no longer adequate and the County Commissioners began to discuss the need for "a new and credible county building," to better represent a growing and prosperous community. The population of the county had swelled by some 40% between 1890 and 1900. By 1903 there were almost 4,000 county residents. The pioneer and the homesteading years were giving way to a new and flourishing economy.
In a 1903 issue of Wilhelm’s Magazine, The Coast, San Juan County was lauded; a lengthy article described its attractions and noted that there were 19 post offices, 27 school districts with 900 children in school, and 21 road districts. The county treasurer had a "cash surplus." In Friday Harbor there were five general stores, a good bank, US Customs, a printer, a stationery store, a jewelry store, a milliner, blacksmith, barber, two hotels, three saloons, and four large wharves and warehouses, two churches, and a number of fraternal lodges. A salmon cannery, creamery, and sawmill were located along the waterfront. The busy town had a population of nearly 400.
In 1906, after lengthy debate over costs and construction materials—wood or brick— voters approved, by a ten-to-one margin, a proposal for a new brick courthouse submitted to them by County Commissioners Isaac Sandwith, Chairman; M.S. Donahue, and William Graham. The commissioners had chosen the Seattle architect, William P. White, to design the building and J.S. Schockey of Bellingham as the contractor. The estimated cost was $12,000.
There was great fanfare and appropriate ceremony when the corner stone was laid on June 29th, 1906. The Journal, reported soon after:
Work is progressing on the new courthouse, and the structure
is beginning to assume graceful proportions . . . the building
will be a very complete one, and in keeping with the dignity
and growing importance of San Juan County. The offices will
be ample and convenient, and of such a character as to be healthful,
as will also the court room.
In spite of the community’s overwhelming enthusiasm and support, the building became the focus of intense scrutiny and controversy by "self-appointed," experts during construction. The architect, contractor, and even the building materials came under fire. County officials expected to occupy the building by October 15, but, the Journal reported, "insurmountable obstacles have made this impossible."
The collapse of the roof caused the most uproar. According to the paper, workers were on the roof adding concrete when supporting joists gave way under the heavy load and "the whole mass went crashing through the second floor like an avalanche." Miraculously no one was injured or killed, though one man was swept along in the cascade of timbers and cement, to emerge on the second floor shaken but unharmed.
Prior to occupancy, the building was deemed "rigid" and safe following a stress test with over "four tons of weight," piled on the courtroom floor, "one-third more" than the usual federal requirement for such buildings.
By December, county officials had moved in and spent close to $14,000. The citizenry, as the paper noted, was pleased with the dignity and stateliness of their new courthouse. Its interior was embellished with the most fashionable architectural features and boasted a hot water heating system, and a 16 by 20 fireproof vault of the most contemporary design.
80,000 bricks were produced at Kimple’s kiln at West Beach on Orcas Island for the building’s construction, all carted by wheel barrow to the dock, tossed one-by-one to deckhands, and then shipped by barge to Friday Harbor where the process was reversed.
Six months later, a headline in the Journal blazed: "Court House Not Safe—Second Floor Over Commissioners' Room Propped Up." Sounding rueful, the paper reported the "startling fact" that County Assessor Harrison was horrified to discover that the floor in his office had shifted, settling about an inch. A local contractor, J. Groll, was called in to inspect, afterwards declaring the floor to be unsafe.
Harrison vacated his office and a series of repairs was completed. "It is very regrettable that weakness of construction in any part should so soon assert itself," Frits wrote, adding that it was unfortunate that the floor over the commissioners’ room had not also undergone a stress test.
For the next 74 years the Courthouse proudly served the community as the locus for the county’s legal and political affairs; all the significant legal and political dramas unfolded within its walls. The commissioners’ hearing room and the second floor courtroom were often filled to capacity when the citizenry turned out to participate in political debates, some fiery and contentious, and to see justice enacted.
Plain, but dignified and imposing, the County Courthouse was purposely set above the commercial hubbub, and meant to be a landmark for all coming into Friday Harbor by boat. The historic building is a tangible embodiment of the community’s character, its values, its hopes and aspirations. It is a near-perfect reflection of the practical-minded, hard-working people who settled in the islands and lived within their constraints, through the Great Depression and two World Wars as well as several earthquakes.
For sixty years the population of San Juan County hovered around 3,000 remaining stable until the 1960s when it dropped to 2,872 at one point. During these years, the Courthouse was the largest and most substantial public building in San Juan County, serving many community needs, the site for not only the business of government but for social and commemorative events.
It wasn’t until the early 1980s that there arose grumblings and questions about the Courthouse’s adequacy and safety. In 1981 the first of three additions to the Courthouse was completed. Just before Ruth Neslund’s trial for the murder of her husband, Rolf, county officials raised serious concerns about the old building’s ability to accommodate the crowds that such a trial would draw. Would the courtroom floor support the numbers expected? Tests completed in 1982 had suggested that the historic building could not withstand an earthquake.
In March of 1983, the Friday Harbor Building Department consequently called the building a "public nuisance, " not safe for occupancy and use. "Mothballed, " closed and empty, the venerable old building’s fate was discussed with considerable heat and controversy, with numerous plans and schemes proposed, including demolition.
During the six-year debate on the future of the building, the old Courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the nation’s cultural resources, tangible reminders of the history of the United States that are deemed worthy of preservation. The San Juan Courthouse Foundation was formed shortly after; its goal was restoration of the historic building.
A former island resident, Joel Douglas, arranged for an exterior face-lift—fresh paint—while the building’s future was debated. The county received a $149,000 restoration grant from the state. In addition, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded a thousand dollars to the restoration fund. And finally in 1990, after years of debate and controversy, San Juan County voters, in a special advisory ballot, decided the historic Courthouse was worthy of preservation and restoration.
County Commissioners Douglas Corliss, William LaPorte, Bruce Orchid, and Thomas Cowan oversaw the restoration. $949,000 was budgeted for the restoration; the actual cost came in under budget at $944,000. The commissioners budgeted another $17,000 for extra items and furniture, raising the total cost to $961,000. (In addition to grant funding, $147,000 came from the county capital fund. A $640,000 bond was issued, to be repaid by county funds over ten years). The architect was Les Tonkin, Tonkin/Hoyne Architects, Seattle; the contractor, Robbins & Nelson Construction, Blaine.
In April of 1991 a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opened the restored Courthouse and heralded new life and dignity for the two-story brick building, the first masonry building to be erected in Friday Harbor. Built in the Second Renaissance Style, its architectural integrity—the many details that signal another era and give a visitor a feeling and association with the history of San Juan County—has been preserved both in the interior and on exterior of the building.
High ceilings, wide hallways, wood and pressed-glass doors with transoms and wood molding trim, an iron stairway, and other dark wood trim imbue the visitor with a sense of the past, a sense of continuity in human affairs. The former courtroom houses the council’s hearing room. On the exterior, significant decorative features are: panels, roman and segmental arches, keystones, and corbelling.
One hundred years later, the historic San Juan County Courthouse is once again at the center of debate. The population of San Juan County has swelled to some 15,700, a 52% increase over the last 15 years, and consequently, the old Courthouse as well as the three additions and the numerous satellite structures used as offices no longer adequately serve the functions of government nor do they properly house county employees.
The original Courthouse, set off by a wide lawn, a formal entrance and shaded by a grand old black walnut tree, is still stately and imposing, still distinct in its architectural style and details. It continues to serve as a vivid reminder of the community’s desire for a dignified and credible seat for county government, a building to serve as a proud testament to both the past and the future. And it is still worthy of preservation.
Courthouse history by Nancy Larsen
Black and white photo courtesy the San Juan Historical Museum & the San Juan County Courthouse
Color photo of Courthouse by Sharon Kivisto
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