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The Early Years
On September 3 rd, 1851 a general election was held with Mariposa being selected as County Seat. Edward C. Bell replaced Samuel Merritt as county clerk and rented his residence, on the corner of Charles and Sixth St., to be used for county business. Unfortunately the “county jail” was still located in Agua Fria and prisoners had to be transported back and forth at great expense to the county. The need for county facilities was more than apparent, but as the coffer of the county was still inadequate things would have to wait. On April 20 th, 1852 the Court of Sessions awarded a contract to Pendleton Hill to build a jail in Mariposa. This was to be a two-story log building located between Fourth and Fifth Street by the Mariposa Creek.
On April 21 st, 1854, the Court of Sessions approved a contract for Perrin V. Fox and Augustus R. Shiver to build a 40½ by 50½ foot two-story courthouse. Land for the site was donated by William R. Owen, though actual ownership of the land rested with the John C. Fremont’s “Las Mariposas Grant”. In 1860, after the courthouse had been constructed for six years, Fremont deeded the land to the County for the sum of one dollar.
Lumber for the construction of the courthouse came from Mariposa’s own stands of timber. Two sawmills, Humphrey & Geiger at Log Town and the Clark Mill on Bear Creek supplied the lumber. It has been argued which one actually supplied the lumber, but both were probably used.
At the meeting of the Board of Supervisors on February 12, 1855 the building was accepted with a total cost of $9,200. The only problem was that the county still did not have enough funds to pay for the building. So the newly elected Board of Supervisors, which replaced the Court of Sessions as the governing body of Mariposa County, authorized the Treasurer to pay Fox & Shiver what funds that were held in the building fund and to make payments until 1858 when the building was paid for. Fox & Shiver took the county to court on July 23 rd, 1858 for final payments of interest owed.
The Mariposa History Center has some notes compiled by Bertha Schroeder from the Court of Sessions Minutes and Board of Supervisors Minutes between 2/11/1851 and 10/23/1867 that are of some historical interest. Click here to view a record of her notes.
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