New Courthouse

New Hampshire, 1916

Ossipee, N. H., Sept. 9. — Carroll County's new courthouse, of Colonial design, recently erected to take the place of the wooden building destroyed in the fire of June 23, 1915, which wiped out a large section of the heart of Ossipee Village, is one of the handsomest in the State. Its cost, exclusive of the furnishings, was approximately $40,000. The equipment cost several thousand dollars more.

The structure occupies the site pf the old Courthouse, but sits back about 30 feet farther from the village square. It has a frontage of 53 ft. 3 in. and a depth of 94 ft. 4in., and is two stories high. The exterior is dark red brick, laid in white mortar, with trimmings of Indiana limestone. The portico at the front is supported by large colonial columns. There is a side entrance to the rear section.

The admirably arranged interior includes the courtroom on the first floor, 46 ft. 3 in. x 39 ft. 5 in., and the height of two stories; the offices of the County Commissioner, register of deeds, register of probate, clerk of court, judge's room, Grand and Petit Jury rooms, lawyers' library and vaults for the court and county records.

Special attention has been paid to the acoustical treatment of the courtroom. In this, it is said, the builders have succeeded well. The room will seat about 200 spectators.

The judge's, jurors' and lawyers' rooms are conveniently arranged at the rear of the courtroom and it is only a step from the judge's room to the bench.

The officers of the commissioners and clerk of court are on the first floor in the front of the building and those of the two registers are similarly placed on the second floor. All are large and well lighted.

The building is strictly fireproof. It has fire walls and steel enters largely into the interior construction. The stairway at the front of the building is of marble with steel bannisters.

Steel wall cases and other equipment of the latest design are used in the offices. The courtroom furniture and the desks, chairs and tables throughout the building are of quartered oak.

Unique among the courthouses of the State, this one is equipped with its own electric lighting plant. It is heated by steam, and the compressed air system is used for supplying all parts of the building with running water, which is pumped from a spring about 50 yards away from the building. The basement includes, besides the heating, electric and water systems, a prisoner's cell. The building is equipped with fire escapes.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 3.