On the 9th of June, 1853, the commissioners, Henry Alder, John Garrard and John T. Maxey, opened the bids received by them towards erecting a new court house, the old one having previously been condemned by the grand jury. Bids were received from Messrs. Gould, Biddle, Hills, Turnbull, Carey, Scott & Reese, Strain and Simpson. On the 10th of the same month, after a due examination of the several bids, the contract was awarded to A. E. Turnbull. On the 2d of August, the contract was completed and closed, in which the contractor agreed "to build said court house, as per contract and specifications on tile, for the sum of $26,975, and to have the same completed in good style by the first day of July, 1855." It was ordered to be erected with the front facing Main street, and placed in the middle of the lots originally set aside for court house and jail, with the steps commencing at a distance of six feet from the southwest line of Main street, and the northeast line of the lots.
The old buildings were ordered to be sold on June 24, 1853, and on that date E. W. Turner, auctioneer, sold the court house to William Gould, John Warner and J. F. Freeman, for $77. The county offices and jail not bringing prices sufficiently large were withdrawn from the sale. On November 2, they were again put up for sale, William Turner being the auctioneer. The treasurer's and recorder's offices were sold to Joseph Chrisman, for $37; the auditor's and clerk's offices, to David Haskell, for $34; the jail, to James M. Thompson, for $50; the inside pavement, to Nathan Bond, for $6.50; the old hook and ladder shed, which stood in the rear of the jail, to Joseph Warner, for $2, and the fence around the lot, to J. C. Kemp, for $3; while the sheriff's office, which was not sold until December 4, brought, including the stove, $35, and was purchased by William Jones.
The county officials were compelled to find offices elsewhere, and on November 2, John Rouse, the auditor, was authorized by the commissioners to rent of George Phifer the two southwest rooms on the second floor of his new brick building, for the use of the auditor and treasurer, which was accordingly done, at a rent of forty-five dollars per annum. This is the same building in which Wolf's clothing store is now located. The clerk made his office in his house; the recorder, in a small log building which had been weatherboarded and which yet stands on the south side of High street, between Main and Union, while the sheriff did without an office until the new building was completed.