County seat location fights 'dandies'

Political fights over location of courthouses took place in seven area counties. Five communities sought the Trempealeau County Courthouse before it wound up in Whitehall. Construction of these buildings in 1882 ended the battle. Whitehall is the most central of the communities involved.

     Back before the turn of the century, residents of most counties realized the value of having the county seat located in their communities.
     Some of the biggest political battles were waged over which community would be the seat of government.
     In most cases, the communities which won became the largest while some of the other fledgling towns faded from the picture.

Seven battles around area

     County seat fights occurred in Barron, Clark, Dunn, Pierce, Pepin, Buffalo and Trempealeau counties.
     There was little discussion about where the county seats would be in Chippewa, Eau Claire, Jackson, Rusk, St. Croix or Taylor counties because there were larger communities already established.

Pierce County action

     When the legislature set off new counties, it noted that no county seats could be moved until the majority of the voters favored its removal.
     The question of voting for the site was the big fight in Pierce County. The county had been set aside form St. Croix County in 1853 but the bitter fight over the county seat did not heat up until the period from 1859-61.
     Much of that was carried on in the county's three newspapers, the "Prescott Transcript" and "Northwestern Democrat" and the "River Falls Journal".
     The "River Falls Journal" pointed out that the law said the county seat should be at the geographical center of the county for the convenience of the people.
     Papers in Prescott, where the county seat was, said that argument was weak and the county seat should be at the center of business activity, and that was Prescott.
     There were several efforts to get the issue before the voters. But it took two years, until the April 2 election of 1861, before the county voters approved a measure for removal. The only votes against removal from Prescott were from that community and two neighboring towns.
     It was decided to build the county seat in Perry Township at the center of the county. There was no community there at the time - it later became Ellsworth - but the county board could not get together on funds for the project. Board members apparently supported removal from Prescott but were unwilling to pay the cost.
     In the meantime, residents of Prescott made one more attempt to regain the county seat by offering free use of buildings for three years. River Falls interests said they'd do the same thing.
     Finally the board agreed it had to settle the issue and designated $2,000 for a building at Perry. This was inadequate and later $6,000 more was authorized. By the end of 1861 the county seat was established in the Town of Perry, although the township had cast only 31 votes to have the seat located there.
     When Dunn County was formed in 1854 out of Chippewa County, it contained all the land now in Dunn County and that which is now Pepin County. Dunnville was selected because of its central location.
     In 1858 the courthouse burned and the records were destroyed. About the same time Pepin County was formed.
     Because of power and influence being controlled by Menomonie-based interest, Dunnville lost the county seat to Menomonie.
     Dunnville was then known only as a steamboat landing. After the arrival of the railroad, the town continued its demise, having only 100 persons in 1888. It has faded away since.

Neillsville won

     Clark county is another example of where the community that gained the county seat grew while the loser never flourished.
     Clark County was set off from Jackson County in 1853, its entire area being included in a single town, Pine Valley, named because of the growth of pine on the upper Black River.
     James O'Neill, for whom Neillsville is named, was the first board chairman.
     In the same year, Samuel Weston, Dave Robinson, and other men, all from Maine, settled on Black River two miles north of Neillsville and started the village of Weston.
     The Weston backers and those of Neillsville battled over the county seat and Neillsville influence won out. Weston is no longer on the map while Neillsville has become the principle city of the area.

North Pepin early seat

Durand won the right to have the Pepin County Courthouse located there but Pepin and Arkansaw were also in the running. The county seat started at Pepin, then went to Durand, to Arkansaw, and finally back to Durand where this building was constructed.

     After Pepin was set off from Dunn County, North Pepin was picked for the county seat. In 1859 a vote was taken to move the seat to Durand. It failed by three votes, 351-348.
     Two years later in November, a second vote was taken with 429 approving removal to Durand and 327 opposing. In 1867 the state court upheld the vote following an appeal by Pepin.
     In 1871 Arkansaw got into the act and it was voted 697-648 to move the seat to that community. The following year another vote was taken and Arkansaw won again.
     In 1886, by 937 to 618, Pepin voters sent the county seat back to Durand where it remained.

Alma won in election

     The battle for the county seat in Buffalo County was mostly between Fountain City and Alma, although Buffalo City made a bid for it.
     When the county was formed in 1860, Fountain City interest prevailed because of the influence of local politicians. later in 1860 the legislature decided the site should be determined by election.
     Alma won but the screening committee tossed out a number of votes because of "irregularities" and "informalities" and the county seat remained at Fountain City.
     The state court in May of the same year examined the questioned votes and decided the courthouse should go to Alma. The following year before any construction had started, Buffalo City individuals offered a free courthouse and jail buildings. Another vote was held and Alma interest carried the day. it was again contested by Fountain City but in the end Alma won.

Recent controversy

     Buffalo county experienced the wrenching strain of protracted efforts to move the courthouse from Alma to Mondovi as recently as the early 1960s.
     Sparked by plans to construct a new courthouse in Alma in 1959, Mondovi backers sought first by county board resolution and then by petition to secure a county-wide referendum on the proposal.
     The board rejected 18 to 10 Mondovi Supervisor Lorn Howard's request for a referendum of voter attitude toward building in Alma. The vote was 19 to 9 in favor of building in Alma the next day after Alma Mayor Ed Hitt offered money and land for the project.
     But Mondovi supporters came back in May 1961 with 269 petitions with 2,497 signers asking the county seat be moved to Mondovi. Supervisor Otto Bollinger, Mondovi, presented them with a resolution seeking a referendum. The effort lost 20 to 8.
     As the issue moved into circuit court, the board once more considered the petitions and rejected them on grounds they did not contain enough names. The judge ordered the county to search its records.
     Although the committee found the petitions lacked the required number of names, Judge Robert Varnum ruled the county must accept the petitions as qualified but that a referendum was unnecessary because Alma Courthouse plans had progressed too far.
     At its May 1961 meeting, the board voted 28-0 for the #350,000 bond issue, and the new courthouse was built alongside the old one at Alma.

Four in Trempealeau

     Four Trempealeau communities were involved in a county seat fight. When the county was first formed Judge Georgerge Gale, for whom Galesville is named, was a strong political force and the county seat was at Galesville.
     After his death a seven-year fight occurred with the county seat finally ending up at Whitehall.
     Those supporting Arcadia won the right to have the county seat in 1876 against the opposition from Whitehall. The following year a committee voted for removal to Whitehall and then, on a county-wide election, the voters favored Whitehall by 1600 votes.
     Blair then made its move but petitions were turned down in early 1878 by 420 votes. Later that same year, voters rejected Blair again.
     There were three other attempts for removal from Whitehall, but the supporters of the more central location managed to keep it there.
     The entire issue was resolved in 1882, seven years after the first battling when construction was started on the he courthouse and jail at Whitehall.

Long debate in Barron

     Barron won a 21-year debate to gain the site for the Barron County courthouse despite fighting the odds of the larger community of Rice Lake Mills and the power of the Knapp, Stout & Co., Company.
     Barron County was part of Polk County when it was set aside in 1862 under the name Dalles County, and became Barron County in 1869. It took until 1874 to set its official boundaries.
     The new board met for the first time in the home of John Banks near the present village of Prairie Farm. It met at various places including logging camps and houses around Barron for several years.
     On Oct. 2, 1837, 97 petitioned for a vote on moving the county seat to Rice Lake. A Nov. 4, 1873 vote favored the removal to Rice Lake 269 to 174. The following January the board met in a rented room from the Knapp, Stout & Co., Company.
     John Quaderer, although an employee of the lumber firm, had favored the Barron location. In November 1874 voters approved the moving of the county seat back to Barron. Dec. 29 of that year the governor proclaimed the election valid and ordered the seat removed to Barron.
     W. S. Grover, the clerk, quickly bundled up county records and moved them to Barron. County Treasurer Henry Sawyer, amid rumors that Knapp-Stout would seek an injunction, refused to move. His office the following spring was declared vacant.
     Rice Lake's efforts had not ended. in 1887 the community was granted a city charter, but Barron, seeing this as another attempt to gain the county seat, also applied and was granted a charter as a city.
     In 1890 the county board voted 13 to 12 against a resolution calling for removal to Rice Lake. Interests supporting Rice Lake made one more bid the following year when they managed to obtain enough names on a petition to call for another vote on where the county seat should be.
     Again Barron supporters went to work and managed to have 196 persons withdraw their names from the petition. The state Supreme Court ruled that there was not the necessary two-fifths of the poll of voters on the petition and declared that no election could, therefore, be held.
     Throughout the years there has been talk of moving the county seat from Barron to Rice Lake but the former interest always has prevailed.

-- Arnie Hoffman

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.