The Original Oxford County Courthouse

Did you know, the current County Courthouse is not the original Courthouse building? Read on to learn about the current Courthouse's predecessor.

By Liz Dommasch, Archivist

For the month of May, we thought it might be fun to take a tour of the County Courthouse Square and highlight some of the lesser known monuments and buildings that stand or once stood at this location.

Located on Hunter Street, in Woodstock, the Oxford County Courthouse (and former County Administration Building) was built in the 1890s. However, few realize that this is actually the second courthouse that was built in the County, and another stood immediately in front of this location in the 1800s.

The first meeting held to discuss the erection of a courthouse in the County was held at the Royal Oak Inn on March 22^nd, 1837, with Captain, Andrew Drew Esquire acting as Chair. At this meeting it was resolved to convene a public meeting the following month, in order to receive approval to begin construction on such a building. John Arnold, Peter Carroll, Captain Andrew Drew, Graham Whitehead and G.W. Whitehead were appointed as the building committee and immediately authorized raising a loan of £3,000 for such a purpose.

An architectural plan prepared by a Mr. Leighton was adopted and the construction of the building was carried out by contractors Henry Bishop and John Harrison for the sum of £3,700. The Courthouse was pronounced fit to be occupied on November 11^th, 1839 and an application was made to the Governor to issue the requisite Proclamation, which was done on December 23^rd, 1939 which set apart the County of Oxford as a distinct District by the name of the District of Brock.

The original County Courthouse building.

The Courthouse served as the District’s Judiciary and Administrative building for over forty years, before concerns were expressed over its dilapidated state. In April 1882, the Grand Jury of the Spring Assizes stated that the building provided inadequate accommodation for the Jury and, in fact, did not contain a room large enough for twenty-four men to sit in without sitting on a pile of wood in one corner of the room. That same year, Architect, T.H. Goff, submitted a report to County Council stating that the building in its present condition was liable to collapse at any minute due to the partly decaying walls and the weight of the roof. He also noted that the air in many of the chambers was charged with "foul and poisonous gases" and that the County Clerk did not have adequate space to store the papers pertaining to his office, and in fact was compelled to store a majority of his records in the County Attorney’s office. Needless to say by the end of the year, the building was condemned by the Government Inspector and the County Architect.

However, it wasn’t until 1888 that the County begin to seriously consider the need for a new Court House. In December of that year, a committee was appointed with instructions to advertise for plans and specifications for a new Courthouse that was to be fire proof, as far as possible, and did not exceed a total cost of $75,000. Ultimately the tender of W.C. Smith and Company of Detroit was accepted and construction of the new Court House was completed in 1891 with the help of well-known Architects, Cuthbertson and Fowler.

County Council concluded that in order to secure the best possible site for the new building, that the original Courthouse would be sold by public tender or auction, to be taken down and removed from the grounds on or before February 20^th, 1890.