Postcard; postmarked Erie, 1947; collection of the author.

Erie’s County Courthouse, located at 140 West Sixth Street, was erected and opened for business in May 1855.

Erie County was established 12 March 1800, but for its first three years, it was attached to Crawford County. The very first Erie court was held in 1803, at Goerge Buehler’s hotel at the corner of French and Third Streets. The first official courthouse was erected on the West Park, north of the soldier’s monument, in 1808. That building, and its entire contents, burned 23 March 1823. A new building, built on the footprint of the first, took two years to complete, and served as the county seat for thirty years.[1]

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[1] Samuel P. Bates, History of Erie County… (Chicago: Warner & Beers, 1884), 512-514.