Piscataquis County-Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
The following excerpt is reprinted by permission from The Courthouses of Maine, Robert K. Sloane, Senior Editor.
The County Courthouse
The people of Piscataquis County, on the early frontier of settlement
in Maine, have been served by seven courthouses--only three of which
were located within the county. Although settlers reached Piscataquis
County in 1794, it took over 40 years for the services of the court
to be located in a convenient local courthouse within the county.
By the time the first settlers arrived, the area had been made part
of Hancock County with a shire town at Castine, nearly 75 miles away
on a route compromised of a lengthy footpath and a river. Built
in 1790, Castine’s courthouse was used by settlers of the land
that became Piscataquis County for county courts and, perhaps most
important, the registry of deeds. The courthouse stood opposite
a stone jail where residents were detained if necessary and where
lawbreakers would have been held in the stocks for public punishments.
To get to the courthouse in Castine or the Registry of Deeds took
a three day walk from Dover and Foxcroft through the wilderness to
Bangor, followed by a 35 mile sail on the river (or another 2 or
3 day hike on the riverbank). Few lawyers were willing and
able to make the trip for their clients. For appeals to the
Supreme Judicial Court, residents of the future Piscataquis traveled
to Boston, since Maine was then a part of Massachusetts. A
trip to Boston required the settlers to walk the three days to Bangor
and once there to obtain passage by boat for the remainder of the
240 mile trip.
In the winter of 1838, when the bill establishing Piscataquis County
was before the Maine Legislature, objections were registered regarding
the expense of constructing and maintaining buildings for the proposed
new county. Anxious to assure a favorable result, the proprietors
of the Universalist Society of Dover and Foxcroft sent a message
to the state house in Augusta proposing a unique arrangement: in
return for the State’s establishment of Dover as the shire
town for the new county, the church’s proprietors would permit
the use of the five-year old church building as a courthouse during
the week (reserving the use of the building on Sunday as a place
of worship). The church proprietors offered to sign a written
contract for the use of the church as a courthouse so long as it
might be needed, free expense to the state. With this offer,
the legislative battle was won, Piscataquis Count was formed, and
Dover became the county seat. The first term of
the Court of Common Pleas was held in the Universalism meeting-house
on September 18, 1838.
In 1839 the Court of Common Pleas was replaced by the District Court
and six years after the founding of the county, the need for a permanent
building became apparent. The first courthouse built specifically
for Piscataquis county courts was erected in 1844. The town
was proud of this sturdy courthouse. It was used for special
occasion, including seasonal use by church congregations needing
housing. The walls of the building still exist as part of the
present courthouse.
The old courthouse served well into the early Victorian Era, but after
40 years the building needed expansion and modernization. In
1885 the Piscataquis County Commissioners obtained help from the
legislature, providing $12, 000 in state money for courthouse expansion. The
formal opening of the new courthouse was a major civic occasion. On
Thursday, February 18, 1886, the new building was dedicated with
celebratory exercises.
Since 1886, the “new” courthouse remained the focus and
location of Piscataquis County administration and court activities. In
1930 the Superior Court took up business in the building. In
1956 a wing to the east of the building was added to the courthouse
as new space for the cramped county offices. The courthouse
was renovated in 1975 and between 1988 and 1990. During the
1975 period renovations, a former residence was remodeled to provide
a separate building for the District Court. This building had
become a courthouse annex. As the most recent courthouse for
Piscataquis County, this building becomes the seventh building used
for court purposes.