OLD COURTHOUSE COMING DOWN

JEREMY WALTNER  –  PUBLISHER

The building that served as the government home for Hutchinson County from 1881 through most of 2019 will be coming down.

Meeting in regular session Thursday, Nov. 5, the Hutchinson County Commission voted 4-0 to declare the former courthouse on Euclid Street surplus property, which will lead to its ultimate destruction and removal. Commissioner Steve Friesen told The Courier exactly when the building will be taken down will be based on room in the county’s budget, but it won’t be until sometime next year — possibly summer.

In preparation for that, the county is selling a host of items at an auction this Sautrday, Nov. 21 beginning at 11 a.m. Doors will be open for viewing at 8 a.m. that morning. Photos of some of the items that will be for sale are available at sdauctions.com. Items range from desks and chairs to bulletin and peg boards to TV carts, voting boxes, law books and the flagpole outside the building. A comprehensive list was printed on page 8B of the Nov. 12 edition of The Courier.

The courthouse on Euclid Street had been the oldest working one in the state until it was vacated last November following the construction of a new building on Mentor Street about two blocks to the northwest. The new courthouse opened on Nov. 25, 2019.

County officials had considered renovating the historic building badly in need of work — some in the county felt that was, in fact, the best course of action — but the commission decided that building a new structure from the ground up was in the best interest of Hutchinson County. That decision was approved by 65.8% of the voters in a special election April 10, 2018, paving the way for construction of the new building and, ultimately, the commission’s decision earlier this month to tear down the old structure.