Building the Old Courthouse
San Jose was the location of California's first state capital. This honor remained with San Jose
for only two years, 1849 to 1851. Initial
Senate sessions had to be held in a private residence because the
statehouse building wasn't ready; local hotel facilities were considered
inadequate, and an unusually rainy winter caused flooding, making
downtown streets impassable. The loss of the capital may not have been
seen by all San Jose residents as a great loss, as the behavior of the
legislators themselves earned the 1849 session the title "The
legislature of One Thousand Drinks." In 1851 the legislators decided to
move to Vallejo. But the desire to lure the legislators back with a
building truly worthy of being the State Capitol provided some
of the motivation
behind the design of the current courthouse. Additional motivation
included a better location than the previous courthouse, a larger
facility, and a brick construction.
Old Courthouse Design Contest
A contest for the building's design resulted in Levi I. Goodrich's
architectural plans being chosen as the vision for the new
courthouse in 1860. Goodrich was one of the first professional
trained architects to practice in California.
He also
designed the county jail in 1871 and many other local schools,
churches, and commercial buildings. On
another note, Goodrich's wife, Sarah Knox-Goodrich, was a strong
advocate of women's rights and organized San Jose's first Women
Suffrage Association in 1869. She and Levi Goodrich are buried in
Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose. The Knox-Goodrich commercial
building still stands today, at 34 South First Street.
Old Courthouse is Completed
Begun in 1866 and completed by January 1, 1868 (at a cost of
$200,000), the ornate courthouse, with its columns and dome covered
with a shimmering layer of solid copper, was not enough to convince
the legislators to return to San Jose. However, it did provide San
Jose with a beautiful and lasting building: its six-foot solid brick
masonry superstructure resting on a six-foot deep concrete
foundation was solid enough to survive numerous earthquakes.
The Old Courthouse Neighborhood
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| Photo of Hall of Records and Old Courthouse
courtesy of
Sourisseau Academy, San Jose State University |
Hall of Records
The Hall of Records was built adjacent to the Old Courthouse (see
picture, right) in 1893, and housed the offices of the county clerk,
treasurer, auditor, surveyor, recorder and superintendent of schools.
Many old buildings were lost in the 1960's, and the Hall of Records
went under the wrecker's ball in November 1966. Structural engineers
had reported that the building was an earthquake hazard, and it was
not considered (by some) to be worth the cost of renovation.
Hall of Justice
The Hall of Justice, which held the old Justice Court and later the
Municipal Court, was first occupied in 1908. It was torn down in 1962
to make room for a new Superior Court Building at 191 North First
Street, which was completed in 1964. At the start of the demolition
in 1962, the wrecker's ball struck the Hall of
Justice, constructed of sandstone and granite, and bounced off
the structure (which had been declared unsafe for the government
employees working there). In fact, the building proved
so difficult to demolish that the wrecking contractor went bankrupt
doing the job. The new Hall of Justice was built in 1991 at the
new civic center complex, and provided space for 19 new courtrooms.
St. James Park
The Old Courthouse fronts St. James park, an open space set aside in
1848 which continues to reflect the activity and diversity of an
urban park.
In his definitive book on San Jose, The History of San Jose, Clyde Arbuckle
describes a park activity in the 1930's,
"During the depression days of the 1930's, leather-lunged, hat
passing radicals harangued the curious and gullible on the economic
ills of the nation. Bible waving, hell-fire and brimstone
evangelists shouted fundamentalist condemnation of sinners from park
bench pulpits. In pre-jury commission days, court bailiffs collared
park loafers and bums for immediate jury duty across the street."
Notable park visitors include President William McKinley, who spoke
in the park across from the courthouse in 1901, four months prior to
his
assassination in Buffalo, New York. Two years later the
McKinley statue was erected in the park in his honor. (Side note -
in March 1968, only weeks before his assassination, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy
also held a campaign
rally in St. James Park.) After the 1906
earthquake, the National Guard set up and lived in a tent village in
St. James park, while helping to prevent looting in the
earthquake-damaged city.
Early History of The Old Courthouse
Attorneys were drawn to San Jose in the late 1800's, not
necessarily because of the fancy new courthouse, but due to the busy
law trade involving land grants and other property issues, and the
burgeoning legal needs of the growing population. In addition to
attracting the best and brightest from all over the country, by the
1890's many California-born and educated attorneys were setting up
practice locally.
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| Clara Foltz, 1st woman lawyer California.
(Photo from the 1901 "History of the Bench and Bar of California" O.T.
Shuck, editor. |
First Woman Lawyer in the State
Clara Foltz, the first woman ever admitted to the bar in California
(in 1878) was a San Jose housewife and mother of five who went on to
practice law in San Jose. Foltz drafted a bill to change the law's
wording for becoming an attorney from being just for "white males"
to being "any citizen or person". She introduced and lobbied for the
bill at the State Legislature, where objections to the bill included
the fear that once women became lawyers, there might someday be
woman jurors, even judges! At two minutes before midnight on the
30th of March, 1878 (the last day the legislature was in session)
the governor signed her bill into law.
At times Foltz was vilified for
her gender in court: a public attorney told jurors, "She is a woman,
she cannot be expected to reason. God Almighty decreed her
limitations". Once during a trial Foltz was referred to with
contempt as a "lady lawyer." She said of her opponent, "I am sorry I
cannot return the compliment, but I cannot. I never heard anybody
call him any kind of a lawyer at all." Foltz is also credited with
writing the law that gave women the right to vote in 1911.
Crimes and Trials in the late 1800's
Although vagrants and drunken brawls took their toll on
the early citizens of Santa Clara County (as today), domestic
disputes (still too common) were a leading factor in local homicides
in the early days of the Old Courthouse.
- 1868 - Harry Love, alias Black Knight of the Seyante (said to
be the apprehender and executer of notorious robber Joaquin Murietta) was killed by a bodyguard of his estranged wife after
ambushing and shooting both wife and bodyguard. The bodyguard was
arrested but discharged for justifiable homicide.
- 1868 - William Cooper, a would-be eloper, was killed by the
girl's father when he approached the house in the evening for the
elopement. A Grand Jury discharged the case.
- 1869 - Mrs. John Hauser was killed by her estranged husband.
The jury deliberated 60 hours but failed to agree. The case was
retried, Hauser was found guilty of murder in the 2nd degree and
sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.
- 1871 - Arthur Parsons, a local farmer who lived in the area
between Saratoga and Blackberry Farm, was fatally shot in his barn
while feeding his livestock their evening meal. The wife and her
former lover Wolverton were arrested. The latter was tried and
acquitted, and Mrs. Parsons was dismissed on a nolle by the D.A.
The information above is from the 1881 History of Santa Clara
County, California (located in the California Room of the main
San Jose library).
Landmark Case - Santa Clara
County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company
In 1886 the case of Santa Clara
County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company was a landmark case that had
a major impact on the role of corporations in American society. According to the official case
record, Supreme Court Justice Morrison Remick Waite simply pronounced
before the beginning of argument in the case of Santa Clara County
v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company that:
"The court does not wish to hear argument on the
question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution, which forbids a State to deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, applies to these
corporations. We are all of opinion that it does." (source)
Although the U.S. Constitution does not mention corporations, this
statement by Judge Waite began the long history of granting corporations
that status of persons, along with all the accompanying powers and
protections, such as freedom of speech. This case, based on a dispute
over a railbed route, would change the course of American history.
Outlaws in the Old Courthouse - Tiburcio Vasquez
Several of the legendary California outlaws have passed through
the doors of the Old Courthouse. One of these was Tiburcio Vasquez,
convicted in Santa Clara County (after the trial was moved from
Southern California) of leading a Wild West-style gang involving
stage-coach holdups and murderous raids. He was executed here for
murder in 1875. Vasquez had a reputation as a gallant lady's man,
and while on trial in San Jose, he received messages of sympathy, as
well as candy and flowers, from women he scarcely knew or he had
never met.
The Court Fire of 1931
Fire proved to be a bigger threat early on than earthquakes, and on May 18, 1931, a fire quickly spread through the courthouse, causing
extensive damage including the loss of the dome. The fire actually
melted the dome to the point that the covering layer of copper
dripped down the front steps of the building. The dome, which had
172 steps to the iron-railed observation deck at the top, was no
more. When the courthouse was restored in
1932 it was without the dome, but with the addition of a third floor
and Spanish tile roof. At this time the portico was removed, and the
columns recessed into the facade. Above the main entrance, the
original frieze was inscribed with the motto "Justitia Dedicate"
(Dedicated to Justice). This was replaced with the words "Santa
Clara County Courthouse" after the post-fire repairs.
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| Headlines in Oakland newspaper, the only one to carry the photograph) |
Kidnap, Murder and Mob Revenge - Brooke Hart
A crime that put San Jose in the national spotlight involved the
tragic kidnap and murder of the son of the prosperous owner of the Hart
department store downtown. The public, enflamed by the increase in
kidnappings since the Lindburgh baby kidnap and death one year
earlier, as well as encouraged by some of those in power, became a
vigilante mob. Fourteen hours after the victim Brook
Hart's body was found (in the San Francisco Bay, tied to a chunk of
concrete), a group used a battering ram (using construction
materials from the Post Office under construction) the break into the jail behind the
Old Courthouse, dragged the two men suspected of the crime to St. James park and hung them in
front of 3000 witnesses. (The
current central YMCA building at Naglee and The Alameda is located
on the site of the razed old Hart mansion. The Hart's Department
Store, a downtown fixture for many years, was located at the
southeast corner of Market and Santa Clara streets.)
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| Artist drawing shows route mob took,
passing courthouse to storm the jail, then back across first
street where the two victims were hung in St. James park. (The
dome is shown on the courthouse but was not longer
there by 1933.) Photo from "The Santa Clara County Courthouse: Justitia Dedicata" by Loi Kha, 1933 Pioneer Papers (California
Room, Martin Luther King Library San Jose) |
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| Photo of the cannon, taken by the Superior Court of California,
Santa Clara County |
McKinley's Cannon
The bronze
cannon on the bottom step of the McKinley monument (erected after
President McKinley spoke in the St. James Park - see section on
St. James Park, above) has played a part in the history of the Old Courthouse.
A Halloween "prank" in 1932 resulted in the cannon in the park being loaded with gun-powder
and the fuse being lit. The resulting explosion blew out the windows of the Santa
Clara County Courthouse across the street. It is believed that the
current "cement plug" in the cannon was placed there in the hope of
deterring any similar pranks in the future.
Modern History of the Old Courthouse
Major Restoration after Loma Prieta
After the substantial damage that occurred during the Loma Prieta
earthquake there was talk of razing the Old Courthouse, but public
sentiment prevailed. The
building was closed in 1989 and reopened in 1994, the restoration
project having been completed under budget and ahead of schedule.
This successful effort to return a valuable part of local history to
the public's use was recognized with multiple awards, including an
award for "Historical Preservation/Adaptive Reuse", an award in
recognition of "Outstanding Achievement in Design of Preservation
Projects", and the "San Jose Interior Restoration of the Year" award
in 1994. The restoration effort used 5,000,000 pounds of concrete
and 240,000 pounds of steel.
Forgotten Dungeon
In 1992, during the earthquake restoration effort, engineers and construction workers made an interesting
discovery. According to the Mercury News on July 20, 1992,
"Deep in the bowels of the 124-year-old Santa Clara County
Courthouse are two forgotten high-security jail cells..." The
cells, with four-inch thick double safety-doors and steel ceilings,
were heavy-duty and primitive. Though gas outlets indicated that heat
was available, there were no plumbing facilities, so that function
was probably taken care of by a bucket. Within the cells,
workers found numerous old documents including some Mexican-era hand
drawn boundary maps, partially burned and water-soaked, presumably
in the fire of 1931. The cells were behind a
brick wall that was added at some point in the Old Courthouse's history.
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Photographs taken by Court staff in 2002 in the
Old Courthouse basement |
Old Courthouse in the National Register of Historic Places
In 1977 the United States Department of the interior put St.
James Park and nine of its surrounding buildings on the
National Register of Historic Places. The area was also designated a
San Jose Landmark.
Old Court Documents
Old Booking Photos
The following information and linked photos are booking entries
from a volume entitled Historic Booking Journal of Santa Clara
County, Circa 1880-82, owned by a current Santa Clara
County Superior Court of California judge. (Click on the name to see
the photo.)
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Frank Contillo
(aka Frank Contyeyo) - 11/26/1878 charged with assault to commit
murder in Gilroy. Discharged by Judge Belden.
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Florencio Barantos - Sentenced to four years in San Quentin on
4/26/1880 for robbery in house of a Daniel Murphy on 1st Street in
San Jose.
- William
Burns - Convicted 12/1881 of robbery at the "5 Mile House" on
Almaden Road. Sentenced to 18 months in San Quentin.
- Jesus
Banales - Sentenced 12/7/1882 for robbery (with a partner) of
an "Old Frenchman" in Gilroy. "They pleaded guilty and saved the
county the expense of a trial."
Old Legal Fee Documents
The following are the personal possessions of a current Santa
Clara County Superior Court of California judge. (Click on the
document name to see the image.)
- Payment for
Jury Duty Services, dated 3/15/1858, from the Auditor's Office
of Santa Clara County. Payment of $2.00 for "Services as Petty
Juror, People vs Palmer"
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Justice Court Receipt to attorney, dated 5/25/1903,
from San Jose Township Justice of the Peace. Payment of $2.00 for
filing suit, Baker Estate vs F.M. Eley.
Source Materials
The following sources were used to obtain historical information for
this page:
Books or other printed material:
- Courthouses of California - An Illustrated History. Edited by Ray McDevitt. 2001. Publisher Heyday Books, Berkeley CA.
- History of San Jose. Clyde Arbuckle.
Smith and McKay
Printing Co. 1986.
- The Santa
Clara County Courthouse: Justitia Dedicata.
1933 Pioneer Papers (Essay Contest Winners) Loi Kha. California Room, Martin
Luther King Library, San Jose, CA
- Old Santa Clara Valley - A Guide to Historic Buildings from Alto
Alto to Gilroy.
Phyllis Filiberti Bulter. Wide World Publishing 1975,
second edition 1991.
- Swift Justice - Murder and Vengeance in a California Town.
Harry Farrell. St. Martin's Press NY.
- History of Santa Clara County, California. 1881. Alley,
Bowen & Co. Publishers.
- Legends of the California Bandidos.
Angus MacLean. 1977. Pioneer
Publishing.
-
Historic Booking Journal of Santa Clara
County, Circa 1880-82 (privately owned)
- Forgotten Dungeon Found Under Courthouse. Joanne Grant. Mercury
News July 20 1992 1B.
- Information on modern restoration obtained from awards hung in the
Heritage Room of the Old Courthouse
Websites:
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