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Placerville's County Seat Controversy - 05/31/2017 04:51PM

The Great Debate Read More » 

Part of Placerville’s responsibility of becoming the El Dorado County seat in 1857 was to provide a courthouse and jail. To fulfill the immediate need for a building, county supervisors rented and converted a two-story stone structure behind the Mountain Democrat into a courthouse (roughly at the same location where the courthouse stands today). In June of 1861, the building was purchased from owners Mr. Boenzly and Mr. Brelaz for $7,000. This building not only served as the courthouse, but also hosted the first service preached by the Episcopal Minister Caleb Pierce in March of 1861. 

This site continued to house the county courthouse until 1910 when it was destroyed by a fire. A grand jury was charged with determining a site for the new courthouse, with opinions divided between rebuilding at the same location and possibly expanding the site to include the Rolleri property and property owned by the Odd Fellows, or relocating to a larger location north of Main Street that could accommodate a courthouse, jail, hall of records and a public park. 

The county decided to rebuild at the original site, and a three-story stone building with 18,560 square feet of space was built in 1912. Over the years, the two buildings immediately west of the courthouse on Main Street have also served the county as a jail, police department and court of justice. The Confidence Hall at 487 Main Street was used as the city hall from 1902 until 2005.

 It was suggested in an editorial in 1910 that lava rock quarried from Smith’s Flat and Diamond Springs be used to make the structure fireproof and provide beauty and grace to the building. In 1913, a grand jury was charged with determining the feasibility of using sandstone as a permanent and satisfactory façade for the new courthouse; they decided that the sandstone was unsatisfactory and recommended the use of glazed terra cotta instead. 

Controversies attending the courthouse and whether it could continue to accommodate the needs of the county have persisted through the decades. In 1965, it was noted that the building was seismically unstable, and a grand jury recommended replacing it. This option was unpopular with residents of the county, and instead a renovation of the courthouse was undertaken during which dark wood paneling was installed and florescent lights were added to replace the outdated chandeliers. 

More recently, there has been a statewide effort to replace historic courthouses with larger, more modern facilities, often on the outskirts of town. With only four courtrooms serving criminal, family law, juvenile delinquency and dependency, and domestic violence cases, the El Dorado County Courthouse is running beyond capacity; meeting rooms and holding areas are limited or non-existent, and security issues abound. The proposed site for a new El Dorado County Courthouse is on a wooded lot behind the El Dorado County Jail on Forni Road, just south of Highway 50 and west of Main Street.

Discussions on future uses for the courthouse building on Main Street are ongoing. Whatever the use, residents and merchants are mostly united in wishing to retain the building; however, it will require substantial renovation to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other requirements for public buildings.   

Sources
sacbee.com/news/local/article81711792.html
courts.ca.gov/facilities-eldorado.htm#tab3472
bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2014/09/23/el-dorado-county-looking-at-future-of-courthouse.html
History of El Dorado County California by Paolo Sioli (pages 70-75); Sesquicentennial Reprint, published by Cedar Ridge Publishing, Georgetown, California. 1998. Originally printed 1883. 
Mountain Democrat: September 3, 1910; January 4, 1913

Article by Jerrie Beard // Courthouse photo by Bill Robinson. El Dorado County Courthouse, 1912 photo courtesy of courthousehistory.com. Confidence Hall photo by Bill Robinson. Original courthouse photo courtesy of the El Dorado County Museum.