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| County History |
The current courthouse is the eighth
courthouse built for Westchester County. The first was actually
located in Bedford Village circa 1720 and destroyed by fire in
1758.
The second courthouse was erected in 1759 in the hamlet of White Plains at South
Broadway and Mitchell Place. This is the current site of the State Armory. This
courthouse, too, was destroyed by fire in 1775. There is an interesting footnote
here. Many viewed the courthouse as a symbol of the British establishment and
it is thought that an arsonist burned it down for this reason.
In 1787 two new County courthouses were built, (numbers three and four) one in
Bedford and one in White Plains. Westchester County used both of these courthouses
for the next 83 years. This arrangement lasted until 1870 when a law mandating
that all terms of court were to be held in White Plains.
Courthouse number five was built on the block surrounded by Main Street, Martine
Avenue, Grand and Court Streets in 1855. This complex included a jail and offices
for County departments.
In 1909 the sixth courthouse called the "Supreme Court Building" was
completed. The County was experiencing much growth at the time creating much
more County government business. These County departments were also located within
the courthouse. This growth spurt within the County was not foreseen by the planners
of this courthouse. The end result was that the courthouse was not spatially
adequate from the day it opened.
The seventh courthouse was six stories in height and "architecturally severe" so
that it would be possible to raise the roof and add two more courtrooms or two
floors of office suites. It is important to note here that courthouses five,
six and seven were all built adjacent to each other in the block surrounded by
Main Street, Martine Avenue, Grand and Court Streets. This courthouse was occupied
early in 1917.
Courthouses were an integral part of the community prior to World War II. When
the Declaration of Independence was going around the country to be ratified,
it was read aloud to the people of the area from the steps of the courthouse.
In 1916 people went to the steps of the courthouse to hear the early returns
of the Presidential election which were read from the Western Union ticker.
In 1954 there were seven judges housed in the courthouse (5 resident Supreme
Court Justices of the Ninth Judicial District, one County Court Judge, and one
Surrogate.) By 1966, there were fourteen Supreme Court Justices, official referees
and retired Supreme Court Justices qualifying for retention to age 76 thanks
to a new law enacted in the early sixties.
A new "Site Committee" was once again formed in February 1960 to plan
a new courthouse. The eight courthouse was built between March 1970 and December
1973, when it was dedicated. This is the current courthouse now under renovation. |
©2004 - All Rights Reserved. |
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