Number 00001	Scan Date 4/10/02
Time Period 1986
Subject Matter Old Courthouse
Location  Monroe, North Carolina
Description   Color drawing of the Old Union County Court House
Photographer (if known)  William Brewer
Notes  From: Telephone Book Cover 1886-1986 100th Anniversary More information about the courthouse structure: [ ] = notes added by transcriber All spelling, punctuation left as is. Article from “The Monroe Journal”, Friday, September 17, 1926, p.1: Headlined: “Big Improvement In Courthouse” Subheading: After Forty years of Service Repairs Must Be Made and More Room Found, and County Will Save Much Money at That Forty years ago when the late T. J. Hart [Thomas J. Holt per “Sweet Union”, Suzanne Pickens, editor] turned over the then new courthouse to the county the structure was one of the best and most up-to-date in the State. It was perhaps ahead of ninety per cent of the courthouses in the State. Today, with its lack of room for a growing business, without modern conveniences, with decay rapidly advancing it is one of the poorest. Few of the counties of the State are now so poorly equipped for carrying on the public business. But with the improvements, the contract for which has been let to G. M. Tucker, the courthouse will again step up into the better class and there will be nothing to lament. The courthouses of the State which are now being put up and those which have been built in the last few years represent expenditures running from three to five hundred thousand dollars. The improvements in our courthouse will cost around $50,000. The commissioners have acted wisely in taking this step. For years various court judges have insisted that the court room should be made over. Then the development of modern sanitation makes it imperative that the sewerage system be made over. The tower is rotting down and must be remade. These and other improvements needed made extensive repairs necessary. The commissioners saw that by spending a little more they could make the building up-to-date, give additional rooms sorely needed, and make the building serve the purpose of a new two or three hundred thousand building for years to come. The new plans provide for the addition to the north and south wings, four rooms each, remodeling the court room, heating and plumbing and fire proofing the vaults. At present there is no room for juries and grand juries, no room for the board of education nor the road board, and inadequate space for all other offices, beside many other severe insufficiencies. The new plans show that the east and west sides of the building will be very imposing. The west will be the front. The two additions will require the taking off of the dormer roof at each end and the present wings will be included under the roof with the new, with the main part of the building rising between the two. The tower will remain, but will be remade on the outside. The building was of good architecture when erected and was the first building ever put up in the county according to architect’s plans. [this is misleading, the old brick jail-later-City-Hall was erected 1847/48; perhaps they meant the first ‘county’ building built] It was a good building and the $20,000 bond issue required to put it up was the first bonds the county ever issued. Many people thought that the amount was so large it would never be paid. It was said at the time that Mr. Hart lost a great deal of money on the contract. At any rate Union County got a court house that well served its purpose in that day but which, after forty years, is out of date and inadequate but which, with the improvements, will be again something to be proud of. Transcribed by Patricia Poland, May 2014, Dickerson Room, UCPL
Measurements of original photograph		Height 6"	Width 8 3/4"
Type of photograph  Color Drawing