Preserving the history of Forest County, Wisconsin since 1970.
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Courthouse

Forest County Courthouse

The original frame house used as the Forest County Courthouse was deemed inadequate and a building committee was formed. This committee was surrounded in controversy and was soon replaced by a new one. (A painting of the original frame house can be seen today on the inside of the courthouse dome.)  This new committee was said to be very involved in the project, watching it quite closely every step of the way. 

During the construction, which began in 1909, a building located just off Lake Avenue on Madison Street building served as a temporary courthouse and jail.

The committee hired a man from Rhinelander as overseer of the project, and the agreement was that he got paid only if the project came in on budget and on time. It was said the there were some difficulties with the architect, and that there were many, many committee meetings.  Minutes from one of these meetings referred to the redoing of the southeast wall due to substandard workmanship.  There were squabbles over the expensive marble flooring, and one over the cost of the half window on the second floor of the north side, which cost $3.95 at that time. Some rooms still have the wide wooden blinds, which were ordered from Matt Ross’s furniture store.  Ross was married to Grace Shaw, daughter of Samuel Shaw, the founding father of the City of Crandon. The building was finally completed and was dedicated in 1911.  Some people in the county did not even know of the new building until it was completed, and many scoffed at the $55,000 cost. 

The current first floor was the basement and the second floor was the entrance to the courthouse. There was a series of circular stairways to get to the basement floor, which served as the vault at the time. The vault area was later opened up and converted to much needed office space.

Construction of the jail began in 1901, and the south addition, Annex 1, was built in 1966. The north addition, Annex 2, was built in 1978. The new jail was constructed in 1997.

Originally published by:
www.visitforestcounty.com

 

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