History of the Placer County Court System
| 1848 | The town of Auburn is one of the oldest towns in the State of California. Originally, Auburn came within the boundaries of Sutter County, the County Seat being at Nicolaus, California. |
| 1850 | Gordon N. Mott was elected a County Judge. |
| 1851 | A Legislative Act organized the State into Counties; the County of Placer was created and Auburn became the County Seat. Hugh Fitz Simmons was the first elected Judge to the Placer County Superior Court and S.B. Farwell was elected as a District Court Judge. Court was conducted in a structure made from wood and canvas with an adjacent jail made from logs. It was located on Court Street in Auburn. |
| 1852 | Court of Sessions recognized and ordered the construction of a permanent, more substantial courthouse. An ad was placed in the Placer Herald Weekly that read “ Notice to Builders – sealed proposals will be received at the Office of the County Clerk until 2 o’clock on Wednesday July 13, 1853 for the erection of a courthouse in Auburn.” The contract was awarded to Isaac M. Tidd for $16,000.00. |
| 1853 | On December 10, 1853 the new two story wooden courthouse was used for the first time. The lower level housed various County offices as well as the Grand Jury. The upper level housed a courtroom and two jury rooms. The courtroom was “finely furnished” with the floor being carpeted and the center window decorated with long curtains reaching the foot of the Judge’s desk. |
| 1854 | Abram Bronk and James Ellery Hale were elected as County Judges. A bell was purchased and placed in the bell tower of the courthouse. |
| 1855 | Auburn suffered the first big fire. While the courthouse was saved, the jail was not. Soon many temporary structures were built and for a time, lawyers and physicians were housed in the courthouse. Some prisoners were kept in small rooms on the second floor under guard, day and night. It was decided that a new jail would be built and paid for with courthouse funds. |
| 1858 | E.H. Vandecar was elected as a County Judge. |
| 1859 | A new steel bell weighing 300 pounds was purchased to replace the old bell, which had been emitting “mournful sounds” from its cracked sides. The new bell had a clear, full, mellow tone that could be heard at a long distance. The bell was used to announce that court was in session and it was also used in cases of fire. Benjamin Franklin Myres was appointed a District Court Judge. |
| 1868 | After fifteen years of use, the courthouse was in bad condition. The Grand Jury recommended that the foundation be repaired and that the courtroom be cleaned. These repairs were completed in 1869. David W. Spear was elected a County Judge. |
| 1870 | Further repairs were needed at the courthouse. Contracts were awarded to B.T. Morse and George Boynton to paint the inside and outside of the courthouse with two coats of paint; the seating and floors were grained; blinds were painted green and the windows repaired; new pumpkin pine floor was laid in the courtroom; walls of the courtroom and stairway and the roof of the stairway were plastered and a small ventilator was placed in the end of the building. |
| 1872 | Jesse Ives Fitch appointed as County Judge. W.H. Bullock was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
| 1877 | Toward the end of the century the courthouse had become insufficient to meet the county needs. The Grand Jury proposed a new courthouse, stating, “The old building required patching and repairing every year and was getting very dilapidated.” |
| 1878 | W.B. Lardner was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
| 1880 | Benjamin Franklin Myres appointed as Superior Court Judge. |
| 1890 | James E. Prewett elected as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1891 | The Grand Jury issued a report which stated “We visited and inspected the courthouse, jail and other county buildings, while Placer has the reputation of being an enterprising Court, it is a deplorable fact that the condition of its public buildings are a disgrace to modern civilization and a reflection on our intelligent community. The present courthouse besides being inadequate to the accommodation of the County business is old, unsightly and unsafe. The pride of many Placerites is stung when required to acknowledge that the decaying remnants of these structures erected nearly forty years ago, are the best the County can afford for the transaction of its official business and as a store-house for its priceless archives.” Needless to say, the County took steps to have a new courthouse built. John M. Curtis, an architect with prior experience in designing a number of California County Courthouses as well as the San Francisco City hall, was chosen as the architect on this project. The total cost at completion would reach $172,583.55. Ben P. Tabor was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
| 1894 | The cornerstone of the new courthouse was laid. Placed in a copper box and laid in the cornerstone were a ten and twenty dollar gold piece, a silver dollar, a twenty five cent and ten cent silver piece, a copper cent, a Canadian coin, a Helvetian coin, a Midwinter Fair medal, a share of stock in the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad Company, copies of the Placer County Republican, Placer Herald, Placer Argus, Rocklin Representative, Lincoln News-Messenger, and Colfax Sentinel, a copy of the Public School Manual, a copy of the Great Register, and a photograph of John C. Boggs, at one time a County Sheriff and believed to be the oldest resident of Placer County. The courthouse, which included a jail and hall of records, was built in sections. The first section was completed and accepted by the Board of Supervisors in October of 1894 and work continued on three other sections during the next four years. During construction of the new courthouse, the old courthouse had to be moved out of the way. It was hoisted up on rollers and moved to one side. |
| 1897 | The old wooden courthouse was destroyed. |
| 1898 | The new courthouse was complete. The dedication took place on July 4, 1898 and included a parade, oration, music and sporting events. Judge James E. Prewett stated in his dedicatory addresses: “This grand building is one of the finest courthouses in the state. None can excel in fine artistic effect. It is our temple of justice, the repository of our titles, the fortress of our personal and property rights, the fountain head of our school system, the registry of our births, marriages and deaths, and its inmates stand guard by day and night over peace and good order of our communities.” The first Court of Sessions was conducted on July 18, 1898. Housed in the new courthouse was the Court, Sheriff’s office, Agricultural Commissioner, Treasurer, Auditor, District Attorney, Recorder, Superintendent of Schools and the Tax Collector. |
| 1902 | James E. Prewett re-elected as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1903 | J. Wills was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
| 1904 | E.O. Smith was appointed a Court Commissioner. S.G. Watts was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
| 1905 | S.G. Watts was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
1908 |
Jacob Hart Neff, a prominent citizen who participated in local and state politics for many years, donated the fifteen-foot high water fountain. The fountain was originally located in the center of Maple Street and Lincoln Way but was moved 40 feet in 1976 to its present location. No longer used as a fountain, it is the center of a landscaped rose garden planted in 1984. |
| 1909 | Juvenile Court is established. |
1914 |
James E. Prewett was re-elected as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1917 | Seaton was appointed a Court Commissioner. |
| 1922 | John B. Landis was appointed a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1923 | A suitable flagpole for the courthouse had been in demand for many years. While the Board of Supervisors purchased a large flag in 1917, a permanent pole was not installed until 1923. |
| 1925 | As early as 1925, the Grand Jury reported a shortage of room in the courthouse. Over the years the need for more space became more critical. |
| 1944 | Lowell L. Sparks was appointed a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1946 | George Sellon and G.S. Herrington were hired to design and build an elevator for the courthouse. The cost of the elevator was $14,357.00. |
| 1955 | Leland J. Propp was appointed a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1959 | The Board of Supervisors hired Louis J. Kroger and Associates of San Francisco to conduct a study about the need for additional space at the courthouse. As a result of that study, the County acquired 22 acres on Fulweiler Avenue and Nevada Street for a County Administration Center. The gradual shift of County offices from the courthouse to new locations took place in succeeding years. |
| 1960 | Courthouse was designated as a site possessing exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the history of the United States under the National Historical Preservation Act. |
| 1962 | Public opinion was strongly against abandoning or leveling the courthouse. An expression by the 1962 Grand Jury seems to have been in keeping with the general desire of the people. “We believe it is the desire of Placer County citizens that the old courthouse be preserved as a monument to the pioneers who established and carried on the government of this County. We feel that this can best be done by retaining the courthouse exclusively for the Courts and those departments working in close association with the Courts.” |
| 1963 | Ronald G. Cameron was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1971 | Property was donated to the County for the sole purpose of having a court or library in Colfax. The Colfax Justice Court was established. |
| 1975 | William A. Newsom was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1976 | Richard Couzens was appointed as a Justice Court Judge. |
| 1977 | Keith F. Sparks was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1978 | Wayne Wylie was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1980 | Richard Couzens was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. Richard M. Sims, III was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1982 | A group of citizens formed the Placer County Committee to Preserve the Courthouse for the Courts. This group played an important part in saving the historic structure. The committee began seeking donations and sought outside grants to help finance the restoration project. Although, the committee was able to raise over $3,000,000.00, it was evident that a much larger sum was needed to finance the project. The Board of Supervisors hired the firm of Lardner Lardner Architects and Associates of Auburn to prepare a plan and cost estimate for the restoration. Howard G. Gibson was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1983 | Richard L. Gilbert was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1984 | James Garbolino appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1985 | George Yonehiro was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. James L. Roeder was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1986 | Final approval is given by the Board of Supervisors for the restoration of the courthouse to begin. Alan Pineschi was appointed as a Tahoe Justice Court Judge. |
| 1989 | Joseph O’Flaherty was elected as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 1990 | By State Constitution, Justice Courts are converted to Municipal Courts. Unification of Justice and Municipal Courts. Courthouse restoration completed. Court employees and the community participated in a parade, dressed in costumes reflecting the first dedication held in 1894. From the porch of Department Three, which had been draped in red, white and blue, Judge Richard L. Gilbert gave a dedicatory address. |
| 1992 | Larry D. Gaddis was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. Frances Kearney was appointed as a Superior Court Commissioner. |
| 1994 | Colleen Nichols was appointed as a Superior Court Commissioner. |
| 1997 | Board of Supervisors approves plans and construction of the Juvenile Detention Facility and Juvenile Court. Election of a single presiding judge for both Superior and Municipal Courts. Passage of Trial Court Funding Bill and subsequent transfer of funding from the County to the State. |
| 1998 | Frances Kearney was appointed as a Municipal Court Judge. Proposition 220 makes unification of Municipal and Superior Courts possible for all counties in the State. Due to the unification, Municipal Court Judges became Superior Court Judges. The Judges who this impacted: Judge John Cosgrove, Judge Alan Pineschi and Judge Frances Kearney. Board of Supervisors authorizes Presiding Judge of Courts to approve travel requests from employees assigned to the courts. |
| 2000 | John Ross was appointed as a Traffic Court Referee. Juvenile Court moves into the new Juvenile Detention Facility in Auburn. Separation from County maintained network. Court took over janitorial services from the County. First Court MOU established. |
| 2001 | Trilla Bahrke was appointed as a Superior Court Commissioner. Juvenile Court starts using a video teleconference system to conduct juvenile hearings with the Tahoe Court. First court to institute a local commission on judicial nominations to insure that the selections for Commissioner were evaluated by the Bar. Court officially separates from the County. Court took over payroll from County. |
| 2002 | Eugene Gini was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. Commitment from County to build a new courthouse in South Placer. Court reaches an agreement with local school district for a Truancy Court program. Program will be called S.A.M. Judges to adopt local schools and oversee truancy hearings. |
| 2004 | David Bills was appointed as a Traffic Court Referee |
| 2005 | Colleen Nichols was elected as a Superior Court Judge. Bill Santucci Justice Center groundbreaking for new courthouse in Roseville. |
| 2007 | Mark Curry was appointed as a Superior Court Judge. |
| 2008 | Bill Santucci Justice Center opens to the public |
| 2009 | Auburn Historical Courthouse refurbished Presiding Judge Alan Pineschi |