[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9860-S9862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   SOUTHERN MARYLAND'S HISTORY--THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHARLES 
                           COUNTY COURTHOUSE

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, Southern Maryland is rich in 
history--a history that has helped make our State and our Nation great. 
Southern Maryland is also the fastest growing part of the State of 
Maryland with thousands of jobs coming into the area as a result of the 
favorable recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure 
Commission.
  On September 8 in Charles County, the region pauses from the hustle 
and bustle in the area to mark a milestone in Southern Maryland's 
history with the 100th anniversary celebration of the Charles County 
Courthouse in the Town of LaPlata.
  The Maryland Independent on September 4 included a supplement to its 
newspaper on the history of the Charles County Courthouse and its 
initiation through construction and subsequent additions.
  Mr. President, I ask that the article be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

             [From the Maryland Independent, Sept. 4, 1996]

                One Hundred Years of Courthouse History

       The 1896 courthouse is the last of four structures the 
     county judicial and administrative bodies have occupied in 
     the county's 338 years. In 1674, a building was erected at 
     Moore's Lodge about one mile from La Plata. This building was 
     abandoned in 1728, and the Charles County Court moved to Port 
     Tobacco where the Maryland State Assembly authorized the 
     building of a jail and a new courthouse.
       Over time, the 1727-30 building became old and inadequate 
     and a new courthouse was occupied by September 1821. It is 
     this building that was destroyed by fire in 1892 in the midst 
     of a bitter controversy over moving the courthouse to La 
     Plata, and in 1896 a brick Victorian Gothic edifice was built 
     on the present site.
       The front facade was renovated in 1954 as it is seen today. 
     In the middle 1970s, the rear of the building was extended in 
     a typical 18th-century style, completely enclosing the 1896 
     structure.


                          the first courthouse

       Charles County, named for Lord Baltimore's son and heir 
     apparent, Charles Calvert, was formally established in 1658. 
     The court sat for the first time on May 25, 1658, and it is 
     believed its first meetings were held at what is now Port 
     Tobacco; however, there is no indication in the earliest 
     records that this was the case. The first two volumes of the 
     court records covering the period 1658-66 mention the exact 
     meeting place only twice: ``At A Counties Court Held at 
     Humpherie Atwikses the 4th of June A 1658,'' and ``The Court 
     is Adiourned until the 12th of March A 1660 & appoynted to 
     bee held at Clement Theobals hows.''
       According to the plaque in the 1954 addition to the present 
     courthouse, the first Charles County Courthouse was built in 
     1658 and it is described as ``One room built of logs, located 
     on the western shore of Port Tobacco Creek.''


                      Courthouse at Moore's Lodge

       It was not until 1674 that a permanent location for a 
     courthouse and prison was decided on. In the late fall of 
     1674, the county entered into a contract with John Allen to 
     purchase Moore's Lodge, a one-acre tract of land on which 
     Allen was then building a house. For a consideration of 
     20,000 pounds of tobacco, Allen contracted to have both the 
     prison, a simple building, and the courthouse, which was of 
     the cross style, ready for use by May 1675.
       The clapboard-sheathed, timber-framed structure built in 
     1674 was located a mile south of La Plata and eventually 
     abandoned in 1728. The courthouse, a one-story, one-room 
     building with two small shed rooms at the rear, a two-story 
     porch tower centered on the front and a brick outside chimney 
     at one end, was initially intended for use as a dwelling.
       Apparently Allen found himself unable to fulfill his 
     agreement for at the January term, 1677, Thomas Hussey was 
     given 20,000 pounds of tobacco for finishing the courthouse 
     and the two rooms in the shed behind, ``all of this to be 
     done by September court following.''
       In 1682, after eight years of service, the courthouse was 
     lengthened by 10 feet to provide for a ``seat of 
     Judicature.'' In September 1692, it was noted that the 1682 
     addition ``wherein ye seat of judicature is, is very leaky.''
       In 1699, 25 years after its initial construction, the 
     courthouse had to be almost entirely rebuilt. Work included 
     extensive repairs to the supporting frame and replacement of 
     the original chimney, exterior sheathing, floors, stairs, 
     doors and windows. The rear shed rooms were removed and a 20-
     foot square room ``with an Outside Chimney & Closett'' was 
     erected in their place Despite this extensive renovation, the 
     courthouse required further substantial repairs by 1715.
       About 10 years after the repairs, the building was again 
     ``impaired, ruined and decayed.'' After deciding they had 
     spent more than enough money and effort to keep the building 
     standing, the commissioners petitioned the Assembly to build 
     a new courthouse and prison on a site adjacent to the port 
     settlement known as Chandler Town, then Charles Town and 
     later as Port Tobacco. In 1731, the courthouse at Moore's 
     Lodge was demolished and sold for salvage.


        Courthouse at Chandler Town--Charles Town--Port Tobacco

       In 1727, permission was granted to build a new courthouse . 
     . .
       ``That the Justices of Charles County-court...are hereby 
     authorized . . . to go to such Place commonly known by the 
     name of Chandler-Town, on the East Side of Port-Tobacco Creek 
     . . .''
       Once the site had been chosen and the courthouse was under 
     construction, the Assembly passed another act permitting the

[[Page S9861]]

     laying out of land and erecting a town adjacent to the new 
     courthouse and the name was to be changed from Chandler Town 
     to Charles Town.
       There perhaps has been a settlement at Chandler Town as 
     early as 1686, but by 1727 the buildings were in ruin or gone 
     and titles uncertain. A commission was chosen to select three 
     acres within the town to be surveyed for the new courthouse 
     and to fix a fair price. The survey was completed on Dec. 20, 
     1727, and the price was 2,000 pounds of tobacco. The 
     commission then contracted with Robert Hanson and Joshua 
     Doyne to build a courthouse and prison, stocks and pillory 
     for 122,000 pounds of tobacco. Since the specifications for 
     the building were lost, there is no information available on 
     the structure other than it was probably brick because of the 
     cost.
       The date it was completed is confirmed by a note in the 
     court proceedings of Aug. 11, 1730:
       ``The Court adjourns til tomorrow morning Eight o'clock to 
     meet at the new Court house in Charles Town.''


            second courthouse at charles town--port tobacco

       The 1727-30 building became old and inadequate, and the 
     effort to replace it began with the demand for a new jail. In 
     1811, an act was passed to permit the Levy Court of Charles 
     County to raise $2,000 for this purpose.
       Four years later, the commissioners, who had been appointed 
     to build the jail, were authorized to levy an additional 
     $3,000 in the same manner and to devote the entire sum to the 
     building of a new courthouse at Charles Town, and nothing 
     more is mentioned about the jail. The courthouse could not be 
     finished for the amount estimated, and the General Assembly 
     had to be petitioned for a revision upward. in 1818, the 
     Assembly authorized the levying of an additional sum not to 
     exceed $15,000.
       The new courthouse was occupied by the county in September 
     1821 and is generally associated with Port Tobacco, since it 
     is the only one of which there is any type of pictorial 
     representation. It was often confused as the first courthouse 
     of the county. Also about this time, public sentiment 
     succeeded in having the name Charles Town changed officially 
     to Port Tobacco.
       This courthouse continued in service until the fire of Aug. 
     3, 1892, when it was completely destroyed.
       The circumstances surrounding the fire are curious. The 
     town of La Plata, three miles north of Port Tobacco, began 
     around 1873. Soon thereafter, the Popes Creek Railroad 
     established a line of communication (railroad and telegraph 
     station) between the village and the rest of the state. As a 
     result it grew, and Port Tobacco declined. Sentiment grew to 
     remove the county seat to La Plata, and a bill was passed in 
     the General Assembly in 1882 for this purpose. The move was 
     defeated by referendum and no further action was attempted 
     until 1890 when a similar bill was introduced. The bill was 
     passed, but was vetoed by the governor.
       At the next session, a bill was introduced and approved by 
     the governor which provided for a special referendum to be 
     held May 7, 1892, to decide the issue between the two towns. 
     The proposal was defeated by a vote of 995-1,329. During the 
     night of Aug. 3 the courthouse burned. The cause of the fire 
     was undetermined, but fortunately all the records had been 
     carefully removed before the fire. No one was ever prosecuted 
     and no one ever admitted to knowledge of the deed.
       Whatever the cause, the fire did settle the issue for Port 
     Tobacco. Feelings ran high that it was impractical to rebuild 
     the courthouse at Port Tobacco since it had long since lost 
     its entrance to the sea because of silting and had been 
     bypassed by the railroad.
       When the question was brought before the General Assembly 
     in 1894, the rivals for the county seat were La Plata and 
     Chapel Point. Subsequently, a special election was held, and 
     at midnight on June 4, 1895, La Plata became the county seat. 
     Provision was also made for a $20,000 bond issue for a new 
     courthouse and jail.


                      first courthouse at la plata

       The same law empowered the building commissioners to sell 
     the old courthouse and jail lots and to apply the proceeds to 
     the cost of the new buildings. This was done, and Port 
     Tobacco rapidly declined. It was taken in hand again 50 years 
     later by the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco with 
     little left but the memory of the public buildings.
       The courthouse in La Plata was built of red brick in a 
     rather imposing, but unattractive Victorian style. The 
     architect of the building, completed in 1896; was Joseph C. 
     Johnson, and the contractor was James Haislip. They worked 
     under the supervision of a building committee including Dr. 
     James J. Smoot, William Wolfe, J. Hubert Roberts, John H. 
     Mitchell, John W. Waring, Adrian Posey and George W. Gray.
       The general style of architecture was Romanesque and was 
     finished in pressed brick with slate roofing. It was 90 feet 
     long, 52 feet wide and 30 feet high with a 70-foot tower in 
     the front.
       There were five offices on the first floor. The county 
     commissioners shared a large office with the school 
     superintendent. The clerk of court's office included a vault 
     for court records and a working area. The county treasurer 
     and register of wills occupied offices on each, side of the 
     main entrance. The state's attorney and sheriff shared a 
     small office in the rear of the building. Each office was 
     equipped with a cuspidor to accommodate the tobacco-chewing 
     occupants and visitors.
       A large rope hung from the belfry to the second floor 
     landing which was used to ring the courthouse bell. The bell 
     was tolled each day at 10 a.m. by the clerk of the court or a 
     bailiff to announce the beginning of a session.
       The second floor included a court room in the center to 
     accommodate 250 persons, with a law library to the rear and 
     rooms for the grand and petit juries. There were two 
     restrooms in the basement adjacent to the furnace room. There 
     were four fireplaces in the courthouse, and, though not used, 
     existed until the 1954 addition.
       The first meeting of the county commissioners in their new 
     quarters in the courthouse was on Jan. 5, 1897, and the 
     first-ever term of the circuit court in the new courthouse 
     began in February 1897.
       The jail built in the courtyard behind the courthouse was 
     two stories high and made of stone, brick and cement. There 
     were rooms on the first floor for the jailor and cells on the 
     second floor for the prisoners. Its cost was $2,500 and 
     considered fireproof. Criminals condemned to death were 
     hanged from a gallows just outside its walls.


                Additions to the courthouse at La Plata

       The first addition to the 1896 courthouse was in 1949. It 
     consisted of two restrooms and an office for the clerk of the 
     court on the first floor. The second floor of this addition 
     provided for an addition to the law library and an office and 
     restroom for the country's newly appointed judge, J. Dudley 
     Digges, who at age 37 was the youngest circuit judge in the 
     state. The addition was made to the rear of the courthouse, 
     and the contractor was Cleveland Herbert of Hughesville.
       The courthouse changed little inwardly and not at all 
     outwardly until 1954. In 1953, the Greek Revival facade of 
     the building was added as the south addition to the original. 
     The architect was Frederick Tilp (who also designed the 
     county seal), and the contractor was Kahn Engineering Co. of 
     Washington, D.C.
       Dedicated on Oct. 2, 1954, the renovations had been 
     sponsored by county commissioners William Boone, Bernard 
     Perry and Calvin Compton. The building committee was chaired 
     by Judge John Dudley Digges, with DeSales Mudd, Patrick Mudd, 
     Calvin Compton and J. Hampton Elder as members. The cost was 
     around $300,000. The commissioners to whom the building was 
     turned over were John Sullivan, W. Edward Berry and Lemuel W. 
     Wilmer.
       The 1954 addition created much needed space for all 
     courthouse occupants. The new front provided offices for the 
     county commissioners in the east wing. The register of wills, 
     trial magistrate and sheriff occupied the west wing. The 
     county treasurer and assessor took over the west wing of the 
     old building along with the state's attorney. The clerk of 
     court's office was extended to include the entire east wing 
     of the old building. The east wing of the second floor of the 
     new front was occupied by the superintendent of schools and 
     the entire staff of the board of education.
       In addition to the planned office space, rooms were added 
     by means of temporary partitions to make space for probation, 
     county roads superintendent and town commission officials. 
     The new library occupied a wing of the courthouse.
       Two of the old, high desks used in the last Port Tobacco 
     courthouse were saved, like the records, from the fire. One 
     is in the trial magistrate's office and the other is in the 
     office of the supervisor of assessments.
       The former jail, occupied for a time by the library and 
     county agent's office, housed the Children's Aid Society and 
     possibly the surveyor's office. In later years, the former 
     local jail became home to the county's parks and recreation 
     department, Economic Development Commission and currently 
     houses a division of the sheriff's office.
       The first fence around the courthouse yard was a wooden 
     board fence which was replaced by a black pipe fence until 
     1954 when a brick serpertine wall was erected duplicating the 
     one Thomas Jefferson designed for the University of Virginia 
     at Charlottesville.
       In 1974, the center section and north addition was 
     completed in Georgian design and added an additional 35,000 
     square feet to the building. Baltimore architects Wrenn, 
     Lewis and Jencks designed the addition. Renovation was 
     directed by county commissioners James C. Simpson, Michael J. 
     Sprague and Eleanor Carrico. The building committee was 
     chaired by Judge James C. Mitchell with Judge George Bowling, 
     J. Douglas Lowe, John McWilliams, Thomas F. Mudd, and 
     Gertrude Wright assisting. The construction, begun in 1973, 
     was by the Davis Corp. of La Plata, with the cost at 
     $2,038,238.
       In 1965, plans for the addition were halted when the voters 
     failed to give the county bonding authority to finance the 
     project.
       During the renovation, court was conducted in the social 
     hall of Christ Church, and the treasurer's office was in the 
     basement of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
       In 1988, county government offices moved from the 
     courthouse to the former Milton Somers Middle School 
     building. Now the courthouse includes the circuit and 
     district courts, and offices of the state's attorney, clerk 
     of the circuit court and register of wills.

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, in closing, I ask my colleagues to join 
me and the citizens of southern Maryland

[[Page S9862]]

in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Charles County Courthouse. 
Steeped in the rich history of southern Maryland, this structure serves 
as a bridge from the past to the emerging hi-tech area that southern 
Maryland is rapidly becoming.

                          ____________________