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History
The Great Courthouse Debate:
Blue Earth County building was seat
of controversy
May 3, 1993
By Shelley Croes
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO - Most Minnesotans have heard the tale of how St. Peter nearly seized the honor of becoming the state capital.
A scaled-down but similar episode happened in Blue Earth County. Residents in Garden City aspired to be the county seat, but Mankato, which was settled first, earned the title.
The decision raised the ire of residents in Garden City and outlying towns, who argued the county seat should be centrally located. And, no doubt, people in Garden City were miffed about losing the prominence, increased commerce and economic benefits attached to the title.
What resulted was an ongoing tug-of-war between county residents, the city and county commissioners that stalled - and almost prevented - the building of the Blue Earth County Courthouse.
The wounds ran so deep that the courthouse wasn't even officially dedicated until 1988 - 100 years after is controversial construction.
Blue Earth County was sparsely populated and relatively poor in the mid-1800s when land was surveyed for a courthouse.
"From the start the county had been in a bad way financially, as there were so many things necessary, and but little taxable property," Thomas Hughes wrote in his "History of Blue Earth County."
Surveyed in 1854, the courthouse property sat untouched for two years, except for a handful of Mankato residents who, to the dismay of the county commissioners, penned up their animals where county buildings would eventually stand.
A building was finally erected in 1857. It was tiny, inconvenient and unimpressive. Commissioners had a larger vision.
Before the push for a large-scale courthouse, however, they tested the waters by trying to build a new jail.
In 1867, commissioners lobbied the legislature to issue $10,000 in bonds for the jail.
Residents in Garden City countered by successfully urging lawmakers to insert a provision requiring a vote on the jail's location before the bonds could go through. Garden City had already nabbed the honor of being the permanent location for the county fair. If the jail was moved there, it was possible to shift the county seat.
However, the election swung in favor of Mankato, 1,655 votes to 783 votes.
The Legislature also authorized commissioners to issue $75,000 in bonds for a courthouse, which had to be ratified by voters. The hefty amount of money, as well as lingering anger over the location of the county seat, stimulated an opposition group.
 Photo courtesy of Blue Earth County Historical Society |
"The feeling of antagonism expressed by this grange seemed to suddenly pervade the whole county outside of Mankato." Hughes wrote.
"There may have been a fair remembrance of the old fight (for the county seat) and perhaps lingering ray of the old hope stone cherished by some."
A tide of fiscal conservatism also worked against the plan. After all, settlers were still paying off their farms and struggling with the whims of the weather, locust attacks, Indian problems and other hardships of 19th century life on the prairies.
Shortly before the election, supporters hoped to quell the opposition by flooding county voters with propaganda, but the bonds were defeated 1,907 to 1,799. Only two of the opposition votes were cast within the city of Mankato.
"This at once aroused the strong suspicion that the whole scheme was gotten up merely for the aggrandizement of the city, at the expense of the county," according to Hughes.
In Garden City, only five of 131 votes cast were for the project.
The commissioners were undaunted by the will of the voters. Instead of the bonds, they passed a levy and went ahead with the plans.
Their blatant disregard for the voters infuriated county residents. Historical documents show that at least two-thirds of outlying towns passed resolutions decrying the act. One group brought at injunction suit against the commissioners to stop construction.
A judge, however, sided with commissioners. He ruled the county could contract a maximum $23,000 of the work and pass smaller levies each year to make up the difference.
Even though the judgment was far short of the $75,000 the commissioners wanted, they plowed ahead. But the lack of funds eventually stalled construction.
Commissioners once again got approval from the Legislature to issue $30,000 in bonds. Again, those bonds were subject to a vote. With the courthouse nearly finished, supporters gambled that vote was bound to pass. It did - but only by 53 votes.
The exterior work was finished in 1888, but commissioners had used up their levy and their bonds. There wasn't enough money to complete the inside work.
County officials paid another visit to the Legislature and were granted the authority to issue $30,000 in bonds - this time without a vote.
 Photo courtesy of Blue Earth County Historical Society |
In October 1889, workers put the final touches on the courthouse, which came in with a final budget of $123,000 -- $50,000 over the original projection and 35 years after the property was surveyed.
Judge M.J. Severance tried to mend the wounds with these words: "This structure stands for the sovereignty of the county of Blue Earth. It does not belong to the growing city in which it stands, but it belongs to the county and is the common property of all the people."
Because of the lingering animosity, officials dedicated to forgo the dedication ceremony. The courthouse was finally dedicated in 1988.
