Wayne County Courthouse (1818-1829)

Wayne County Courthouse (1818-1829)
Alternative names	First Wayne Co. Courthouse
General information
Location	NW Corner of Public Square
Town or city	Wooster, Ohio

Also Known As Building Name

• 1st Wayne County Courthouse

Comprehensive History

The county’s first real courthouse was erected sometime between 1818-1819. Building a courthouse was one of the conditions of a deal that allowed the county seat to be moved from its original location in Madison (located atop what is today known as Madison Hill) to Wooster. It was reported to be a three-story brick structure with a bell tower, which incorporated a gallery, was occupied by county offices and Freemason organizations. In 1823, John Bever donated a bell for the structure’s bell tower. The courthouse burned in 1828 during a term of the court, and some county records were lost.

On the 30th day of May, 1811, John Bever, William Henry and Joseph H. Larwill, proprietors of the town of Wooster, filed a bond with Robert McClarran, Oliver Jones and Samuel Mitchell, County Commissioners, to build the first Court House in Wayne Co., on the northwest corner of the Public Square, in Wooster, which was accepted on the 19th day of July, 1816. On the 19th of December, 1817, Thos. Taylor and John Lawrence, Commisssioners, accepted the bond of James Childs and Thos. G. Jones to complete the Court House aforesaid. This building burned down in 1829.

—Author Unknown, 

• April 11, 1878: "1830-1878. Destruction of the Old Court House. Something of Court House History", Wooster Republican, p. 3.

Newspaper articles

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  Wayne County Courthouse history clipped part 1 of 3.