| |
| Background
History on St. Joseph County |
 |
| |
| St.
Joseph County by John Marvin |
| |
| Sections |
Intro
Costly Victory
Changing Times
County Government Inaugurated
Historical Firsts
Early Background
|
 |
|
County Government Inaugurated
|
 |
| |
On November 4, 1829, actual government was inaugurated
within the present limits of St. Joseph County, at White Pigeon,
by order of the Territorial Council. Provisions for holding court,
with the usual jurisdiction and functions, was granted and was
held at the house of Asahel Savery on the White Pigeon Prairie.
 The
original county was divided into townships and first settled
as follows: Townships of White Pigeon in 1827, Mottville,
Fawn River and Sturgis in 1828, Lockport, Florence, Constantine,
Colon, Nottawa, and Flowerfield in 1829, Fabius, Sherman in
1830, Burr Oak, Leonidas and Mendon in 1831, with Park Township
in 1834. The first election ever held in St. Joseph County
was the Town Meeting of April 1830, conducted in White Pigeon
and Sherman Townships. The City of Three Rivers is located
in the northwest quadrant, primarily occupying Lockport Township
lands, but also containing small portions of Fabius within
its corporate boundaries. Flowerfield and Park Townships lie
to the north of these units, completing the northwest quarter.
The City of Sturgis incorporating lands from Sherman, Burr
Oak, Fawn River and Sturgis Townships is in the southeast quadrant,
with its south City Limits only one mile from the Indiana border.
The County Seat of Centreville occupies Lockport and Nottawa
Township lands and is located at the mid-point of the County.
Mendon, Leonidas, Colon and Nottawa Townships comprise the
northeast quadrant; Florence, Constantine, Mottville and
White Pigeon and Colon bear the name of the Township in which
they are located.
The first Board of Supervisors met at Savery's
house in White Pigeon on April 19, 1830. On April 23rd the
new Board of Supervisors
created assessors and instructed them to return assessments
for the year 1830 at $30 for each horse, oxen at $40 per yoke,
cows at $10, and all animals taxed being over three years of
age. Land was valued at $1.25 per acre.
White Pigeon was selected
as the temporary seat of justice for the reason that it was
the largest settlement. Upon the
growth and development of other areas of the county, however,
there appeared a need for a central location. On the basis
of prevailing sentiment and liberal land donations, recommendations
were made to the Governor, who issued a proclamation November
22, 1831, locating the county seat at Centreville.
The first
courthouse was the leased upper room of the only two-story
frame buildingin Centreville, built and owned by
Thomas W. Langley. This was in the fall of 1832. The building
was located on the corner of Main and Clark Streets and served
the courts and county officials until the first courthouse
was erected in the fall of 1842 at a cost of $43,200.00.
Cities
and villages were platted as follows: White Pigeon 1830, Sturgis
 1832, Mottville 1830, Centreville 1831, Constantine
1831, Three Rivers 1830, Flowerfield 1833, Colon 1832, Leonidas
1846, Burr Oak 1851, and Mendon in 1845.
The present courthouse
was placed on the State Historic Register on March 20, 1984
and the National Historic Register on September
16, 1993. Because of the growth and expanding of the courts
and court related offices the new Courts Building, located
immediately south of the Courthouse, was completed in 1975
at a cost of about $1,324,000.00.
Annex Building I and II house
various County Offices and/or County related offices. The County
Jail is on the east side
of Centreville. The Jail was constructed in 1961 and was remodeled
to meet the standards of the State in 1982 and again in 1988.
Annex III is called Keystone Place and is used as a homeless
shelter.
In 1995-96 the County built an 8000 square foot addition
to the jail to house County offices that were vacating the
Courthouse due to a $3.8 million restoration/renovation project.
This included compliance under the American with Disabilities
Act for all County buildings.
In September of 1997 after a rededication
celebration was held on August 1, 1997 the offices moved back
to the newly
remodeled Courthouse. Beginning in the fall of 1998 remodeling
of the 8000 square foot addition began at the Sheriff's Department
which is now housing Administration Offices. Their former offices
are now being used for housing prisoners. |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
| DATE
FOUNDED |
| Nov.
4, 1829 |
| FOUNDING
LOCATION |
| White
Pigeon |
| POPULATION |
| 62,422 |
| SIZE |
| 520
Sq. Miles |
| QUICK
FACT |
| An
actual government was inaugurated on November 4, 1829
within St. Joseph County. |
|
 |
|
