Old Court House

On this date, November 3, in 1937, in the history of Grant County, work began in demolishing the second Grant County Court House.

From the Grant County News, 1937:

Work of tearing down Grant County's 81 year-old courthouse started Wednesday morning. The County Judge, County Superintendent and County Agent were moving into new quarters.

The County Agent and County Superintendent will have temporary headquarters on the second floor of the D. H. Restaurant. The County Judge will have his offices with the County Attorney in his office in the Wigginton building. No contract for the construction of the new building has been let, but one is expected to be let at an early date.
The last marriage ceremony was performed in the old building Wednesday morning. A Dayton, Ohio girl and a Cincinnati man were married there. The court house has been used as a polling place for many years. The last election was held there Tuesday, Nov. 2nd.

The old building, erected in 1856 of brick, molded and burned on the grounds, will be replaced by a building at a cost of approximately $100,000. A pretentious structure, two stories high, with the courtroom on the ground floor, has been the scene of many sensational trials since the days of the Civil War, when Grant County was torn by sectional and political differences. In this building many of the leading lawyers of Kentucky and the Middle West have appeared. Forty-five years ago, W. C. P.

Breckenridge attended the Circuit Court and local people still remember the beauty of the diction and power of the silver-tongued orator. John G. Carlisle and Senator Joe S. Blackburn often appeared in the courthouse. It was here that W. W. Dickerson and Capt. A. G. DeJarnette, together with M. D. Gray and a host of others, won for Grant County the reputation of having one of the strongest bars in the commonwealth.

James M. Cox, as a presidential candidate, and many other notables have spoken in the historic structure.

Some fifteen years ago the wainscotting was removed from the walls of the offices on the second floor of the building, revealing inscriptions by pencil and crayon of the signatures of hundreds of men, together with their company and regiment, who were soldiers of the Confederacy quartered in the old courthouse as the ebb and flow of the battle passed through Williamstown.

This building has long been one of the landmarks of Northern Kentucky. Its beautiful white cupola, constructed wholly of yellow poplar by some unknown artisan of the past, has been considered one of the finest examples of the wood carvers art remaining in this locality. Standing on an elevation of more than 1,000 feet above sea level, the white finger of the tower can be seen for fifty miles on a clear day. The October term of the Grant Circuit Court just ended, was the last term of court held in the building.

from a Facebook post by the Grant County KY Historical Society