Douglas County Law Library
Judicial and Law Enforcement Center
111 East 11th Street
Lawrence, Kansas 66044
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This Month in Legal History


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This page contains the "This Month in Legal History" column as published in the current Douglas County Law Library E-Mail Newsletter. The column features a different event from the history of law and jurisprudence of Douglas County, Kansas, that occurred during the month. It is published monthly in the Douglas County Law Library E-Mail Newsletter and on the Home page of this website.

Archived entries from this and previous years can be accessed by visiting the This Month in Legal History Archive page on this website.


March 16, 1857 - Henry F. Parker reports on the courthouse competition in Lawrence, Kansas.

In 1855, the first act organizing Douglas County, Kansas Territory, designated Lecompton as the county seat. Lecompton was the headquarters of the pro-slavery movement in Kansas Territory, and that same year it became the permanent capital of the territory and the seat of the territorial legislature. The legislature had been elected by a large group of pro-slavery men who had come into the territory from Missouri, specifically to take over polling places, cast fraudulent votes, and so ensure a pro-slavery outcome in that spring's election. Because of this, it was know as the "bogus" legislature by Free-State men and women, many of whom lived in Lawrence, the headquarters of the Free-State movement in the territory. By 1857, there was movement on the part of Free-State men to have the county seat moved from Lecompton to Lawrence. In anticipation of this, plans were being made as to where county buildings would be located after the change was made. Apparently, different interests in town were competing for the location of a future courthouse. Henry F. Parker, a Free-State supporter originally from Reading, Massachusetts, wrote a letter dated March 16, 1857, to Hiram Hill, another Free-State supporter and businessman in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Parker reported to Hill that an unnamed "they" were trying to find a location for a courthouse in Lawrence, and that a Mr. Whitman, presumably Edmund Burke Whitman, local agent of the National Kansas Committee, had offered a square of land containing five or six acres and $500 for a courthouse. A Mr. Mallery, a Mr. Ditzler, and one or two unnamed others had "offered the same," presumably referring to money to build a courthouse on the land Whitman was offering. Parker wrote that Whitman wanted to know if Hill would do likewise. This was apparently being done to counter the actions of a Mr. Babcock, presumably local attorney Carmi William Babcock, whom Parker indicated was trying to get the courthouse located on his own land, and who had offered up a large sum of money for that purpose. All this maneuvering went for nothing, for even though the territorial legislature moved the county seat of Douglas County from Lecompton to Lawrence in January 1858, none of the competing interests were successful in securing a location for the courthouse. In fact, no courthouse would be built in the county for many years. From 1858 to 1869, the county rented space to house county offices in various business buildings in Lawrence. In 1869, the City of Lawrence built a City Hall, and the county rented space there for the court and some other county offices. By 1899, the county still did not have a courthouse of its own, so that year the voters of Douglas County approved a levy for an additional real estate tax to pay for one. In 1902, local banker J.B. (Jabez Bunting) Watkins offered to donate four lots on the southeast corner of Massachusetts and Quincy (now 11th) Streets for the construction of a courthouse. The County Commission accepted the donation and construction began in early 1903, the cornerstone being laid on July 4th of that year. Construction was completed sometime in late 1904, and in January of 1905, county officers began to move in without fanfare. The building became a local landmark, and on April 14, 1975, the Douglas County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

From: Historic Lecompton, About Lecompton…; William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, Douglas County, Part 3, County Organization and Official Roster; History of Lowell and its people, Volume 2, by Frederick W. Coburn, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York City, 1920, p. 675; Letter, Henry Parker to Hiram Hill, March 16, 1857; Hiram Hill Collection, Kansas State Historical Society; Expense Sheet, Edmond Burke Whitman to National Kansas Committee, February 28-August 14, 1857, Kansas Memory Project, Kansas State Historical Society; Photograph, Carmi William Babcock, Kansas Memory Project, Kansas State Historical Society; National Register of Historic Places, Inventory, Nomination Form, Douglas County Courthouse; Douglas County Courthouse History, Douglas County, Kansas, website; and, Douglas County Courthouse, Kansas State Historical Society.


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Comments to: Webmaster: Kerry Altenbernd, Law Librarian, Douglas County Law Library, Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 East 11th Street, Lawrence, KS  66044.

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Created: November 27, 2006; Revised: March 1, 2010