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Greene County Courthouse of 1803 that is believed to have resembled Licking County’s First Courthouse |
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 The area now known as Licking County has been home to many people over the course of thousands of years. The Newark Earthwork system, believed to have been built by the Hopewell culture about two thousand years ago, is testament to the existence of sophisticated cultures in the area well before white Europeans arrived in Ohio in the 18th century . Newark itself was first surveyed in 1802 by General William Schenck, and the public square immediately became the center of the small community. The population was small, numbering only about 200 people in 1810. Almost immediately, the new arrivals to the area recognized the need for a courthouse: somewhere to carry out their system of justice, but also a building to serve as the social center of the community. In 1808, while awaiting the more permanent courthouse's completion, a temporary courthouse of sorts was set up at the home of Levi Hays, located between Granville and Newark. The house was merely a small log cabin-so small, in fact, that the Grand Jury met outside under a tree! The first judge of the Common Pleas Court was a man named William Wilson, who served on the Bench until 1823, when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. The first official courthouse in Licking County was built in downtown Newark in 1809, just north of where the present courthouse now stands. No photographs exist of this earliest courthouse, but it is described as a log building with one room, with benches made of wooden slabs laid upon logs. The building was small and crude, but it served its purpose-- with the occasional interruption from the frogs that lived in nearby stagnant ponds on the grounds. Here, juries met to decide criminal and civil cases, but the building served as much more than just the seat of justice. The courthouse also served as meetinghouse and, in its off hours, a tavern. Imagine serving jury duty and then going for a drink without having to leave the building! Return to the Virtual Tour Sources Brister, E. M. P. Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County, Ohio. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co, 1909. Fleming, Dan. Bicentennial History of Licking County, Ohio, 1808-2008. 1st ed. Newark, Ohio: 2008. Licking County Bicentennial, Inc, 2008. Hill, N.N and A.A. Graham. History of Licking County, Ohio. Newark, Ohio: A. A. Graham, 1881. "History of the Licking County Courthouses of Newark, Ohio." Licking County Historical Society. Baker Video & Film Production, 1997. Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio: An Encyclopedia of the State, vol. II. Cincinnati: C.J. Krehbiel & Co, 1902. Huff, W. T. "Licking County Courthouses, part 1." The Licking County Historical Society Quarterly. Vol.7, no. 2: 1997. --- Research notes of W.T. Huff. Available in the archive of the Licking County Historical Society. Lewis, Thomas W. History of Southeastern Ohio and the Muskingum Valley, 1788-1928. Vol. II. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1928. "Newark's centerpiece." The Newark Advocate, November 19, 1989. Smucker, Isaac. Centennial History of Licking County, Ohio: Read at the Centennial Celebration of the Licking Co. Agricultural Society, at the "Old Fort," July 4th, 1876. [Evansville ,Ind: Unigraphic, inc, 1976. "The Story of Licking County's Courthouses." Licking County Bicentennial Commission's Publications Committee, 1976. |