On September 2, the commissioners had bought lot No. 41 and the southwest halves of lots Nos. 42 and 43, owned by G. W. Lohr, for ten thousand dollars. This made the court house grounds include the entire square—two hundred and eighty and one-half feet by two hundred and eighty and one-half feet.
Owing to the death of Architect Maetzel, the commissioners appointed Joseph Dauber as the architect of the building, June 22, 1891. On October 16, 1890, bids were received to furnish two boilers and accessory materials for heating the court house, jail and sheriffs residence and the contract was awarded to Borger Brothers & Company, of Columbus, Ohio, for twelve hundred and ninety-four dollars. The contracts for the furnishing of the wood furniture for the court house was given to A. H. Andrews & Company, of Chicago, and for the metallic furniture to the Fenton Metallic Manufacturing Company, of Jamestown, New York, on December 23, 1891. C. F. Thornwald, of Cincinnati, was given the contract of furnishing the grates and mantels for the court house, jail and sheriff's residence, on February 4, 1892. February 6, following, McHenry & Company received the contract for the combination gas and electric-lighting fixtures. On February 10, the Seth Thomas Clock Company, of New York, received the contract for the tower clock, dials and bell, agreeing to furnish an eight-day, striking, twenty eight-hundred-pound tower clock with gravity escapement and fourteen-foot pendulum, with a three thousand-pound bell, for two thousand, one hundred and twenty-two dollars.
The commissioners having been notified that the court house, jail and sheriff's residence were finished, inspected the same on July 16, 1892, accepted them from the contractors and ordered that "they be settled with in full."
The contract for lightning rods was given to Edward Pickering; for grading the sidewalks, walks and grounds around the court house, to Edward Neville; for furnishing the materials and constructing the walks, pavements and curbing, to G. W. Doerzback; for furnishing two hundred and forty chairs for the assembly room in the basement, to Edward Armstrong.