Cass County Courthouse
Inscription
Completed in 1899, this wooden frame building with limestone veneer is the third courthouse to serve Cass County. The Territorial Government of Michigan established the county in 1829 and named it after then-governor Lewis Cass. Two years later Cassopolis became the county seat. The Board of Supervisors built the first courthouse in 1835 away from the Public Square.
The area’s rapid growth necessitated the erection of a second courthouse on the Public Square in 1841. Nineteen years later some county offices moved across the street to a building called “The Fort.” The inconvenience of two separate facilities and the dilapidated condition of the second courthouse led to construction of the present building.
With a wing added in 1976, it remains the seat of justice in Cass County.
Location
Sources
More markers in Cass
Sumnerville Mounds
Niles, MI
Between the first and fourth centuries A.D. Hopewell Indians built nine burial mounds near here.
First Methodist Episcopal Church
Dowagiac, MI
Circuit-riding ministers established a Methodist class in Silver Creek Township in 1843.
Episcopal Church
Dowagiac, MI
The first recorded Episcopal gathering in Cass County was conducted by Bishop Philander Chase in 1832.
Poe's Corners
Jones, MI
In 1835 George Poe (1779-1851) emigrated from Crawford County, Ohio, and settled on land deeded to him by the U.S. government.
Chain Lake Baptist Church and Cemetery
Calvin Township, MI
In the 1830s southern runaway slaves bound for freedom in Canada came into Michigan near Cassopolis.