Caroline County Courthouse

Infobox Historic building
name = Caroline County Courthouse

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caption =
map_type =
latitude = 38.887
longitude = -75.833
location = 109 Market Street
location_town = Denton, Maryland
location_country = United states of America
architect = Joseph H. Bernard
client = Caroline County, Maryland
engineer = Slemmons and Lankford of Salisbury, Maryland
construction_start_date =
completion_date = 1895
date_demolished =
cost = $21,000.00
structural_system =
style = the late Victorian era
size = 3 floorsThe Caroline County Courthouse is located at 109 Market Street in Denton, Maryland. The courthouse houses the chambers and courtrooms for the judge of the Circuit Court for Caroline County, as well as the clerk's offices, jurors' assembly room, the Office of the State's Attorney for Caroline County, the Register of Wills and the master's office.

History

After Caroline County was established in 1773, it held its early courts at seven different locations until 1797 when its first courthouse was built on the same site where the current courthouse now stands, an area once know as Pig Point. The courthouse green was purchased in 1791 for 121 shillings. [cite journal|title=Caroline Court House|journal=Historical marker (pictured)|publisher=Maryland Historical Society|location=In front of the Caroline County Courthouse|accessdate=2008-05-08] . The building served the County for one hundred years and there were manychanges during this period. Even with the changes, vaults that stored records were overflowing and in 1894, the Caroline County commissioners asked for and received authority to raze the old courthouseand build a new one. [cite web|url=http://aomol.net/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000545/html/am545--49.html|title=The County Courthouses and Records of Maryland -- Part 1: The Courthouses|publisher=Maryland State Archives|accessdate=2008-05-15] The current courthouse was built in 1895 at the cost of $21,000 and was extensively renovated in 1966.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to Caroline County in 1938. He spoke in front of the courthouse in Denton on Labor Day. The speech was broadcast on radio to the rest of the country. Roosevelt was there to support his New Deal programs and also to win votes for his ally in Congress, Maryland Representative T. Alan Goldsborough. Goldsborough would lose the election to Millard Tydings, but nonetheless it was an event the county would not soon forget. [cite web|url=http://www.dentonmaryland.com/carlhist.php|title=A Brief History of Caroline County|last=Dean, III|first=Charles T.|publisher=Town of Denton|accessdate=2008-05-15]

References