 
Assembly Resolution No. 521
 
BY: M. of A. Smullen
 
        COMMEMORATING  the 250th Anniversary of the Fulton
        County Courthouse
 
  WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative  Body  to  commend  the
efforts  of  those  individuals  and  organizations  which seek to bring
recognition to historical places within the State of New  York,  and  in
doing  so,  help  to  ensure  that the complete history of our State and
Nation is preserved and shared with present generations of citizens; and
 
  WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and  in  full  accord  with  its
long-standing  traditions,  this  Legislative  Body  is  justly proud to
commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Fulton County  Courthouse,  the
oldest  existing  courthouse  in  the  State  of New York and one of the
oldest in the Nation still being used as a Courthouse today; and
 
  WHEREAS, On May 9, 1769, a bill was  introduced  in  the  Provincial
Assembly  to  create  a new county out of the westernmost part of Albany
County; in a letter dated November 28, 1771, Guy  Johnson  suggested  to
his  uncle (and father-in-law), Sir William Johnson, that the courthouse
for the new county be located in Johnstown, New York; and
 
  WHEREAS, On March 12, 1772, Tryon County was created  and  Johnstown
was designated as the county seat where the King's Court was to be held;
and
 
  WHEREAS,  Under  the  direction of Sir William Johnson, construction
began on the courthouse, and it was only  partially  finished  when,  on
September  8,  1772, the first Court of General Sessions to be held West
of Albany was convened and six cases were presided over  by  Judges  Guy
Johnson,  John  Butler,  and Peter Conyne, and Assistant Judges Sir John
Johnson, Daniel Claus, John Wells and Jelles Fonda; and
 
  WHEREAS, On February 6, 1773, the Colonial Legislature directed that
the sum of 1,600 pounds be levied on the freeholders and inhabitants  of
Tryon  County for the completion of the courthouse and the erection of a
jail; a little over two years later, the residents were once again taxed
to complete the structures; and
 
  WHEREAS, Sir John Johnson made his last appearance at the courthouse
in the town named for him on March 12, 1776, when he served  as  one  of
the  three  presiding judges, before he and 170 tenants and friends left
for St. Regis in Canada amidst revolutionary undertones; and
 
  WHEREAS, On October 25, 1781, the courthouse came under fire  during
the  Battle of Johnstown, one of the important battles of the Revolution
fought in New York State; the Loyalist  forces  were  eventually  driven
back to Canada; and
 
  WHEREAS,  On April 2, 1784, the county lost its Loyalist designation
of  Tryon  and  was  officially  renamed  Montgomery  County   after   a
Revolutionary  War  hero,  General  Richard  Montgomery,  who was killed
during the storming of Quebec, in 1775; and
 
  WHEREAS, Eight years later, county supervisors ordered two large and
two small stoves to be purchased for the courthouse, that  the  lots  be
completely  fenced and that a row of elms or willows be planted in front
of the building; and
 
  WHEREAS,  On  October 26, 1807, town meetings in the courthouse were
prohibited, and on October 30, 1810, the supervisors forbade the  future
holding of school in the building; and
 
  WHEREAS, After slaves were publicly sold in front of the courthouse,
the  county  sheriff  was directed to refuse further use of the property
for any meeting to discuss or lecture on slavery in  November  of  1836;
and
 
  WHEREAS,  On  October  6, 1826, the sheriff was directed to purchase
and install a bell in the courthouse; the original bell placed there  in
1772,  is  still housed in the belfry of this old structure and was rung
at the surrender of Cornwallis at  Yorktown,  during  the  news  of  the
signing  of  the  Declaration of Independence and our U.S. Constitution,
the same as the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and recently, when all  the
bells  across  the  Nation were rung during the 200th Celebration of the
U.S.  Constitution; and
 
  WHEREAS, The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, and  the  Utica  and
Schenectady  Railroad in 1836 redirected traffic from the old state road
through Johnstown, leaving the county  seat  off  the  beaten  path;  an
influential  group of citizens in the southern part of Montgomery County
succeeded in getting the county seat moved to Fonda in May of 1836; and
 
  WHEREAS, On March 14, 1837, the building situated in the village  of
Johnstown,  heretofore known as the courthouse, jail, and clerk's office
of the county of Montgomery was sold at public auction  to  the  highest
bidder; and
 
  WHEREAS,  However,  the  dissatisfaction of the people living in the
northern part of old Montgomery County was such that a new county, named
Fulton after Robert Fulton, who improved  the  invention  of  the  steam
engine, was formed by the State Legislature on April 18, 1838; and
 
  WHEREAS,  The  new county was authorized to hold the Court of Common
Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace in the  old  courthouse  in  the
village  of  Johnstown, and the re-purchase of the old courthouse, jail,
and clerk's office in the village of Johnstown,  formerly  used  as  the
courthouse, jail, and clerk's office of the county of Montgomery; and
 
  WHEREAS,  Today, with the exception of 13 months, the courthouse has
been in continual use as the seat of justice in the area for 250  years;
and
 
  WHEREAS,  Many  famous  trials were held throughout the courthouse's
storied history; in the spring of  1812,  Alexander  Sheldon,  a  former
Speaker of the State Assembly, had charged that one Solomon Southwick of
the  Town  of  Charleston had attempted to bribe him to vote in favor of
incorporating the Bank of America in New  York  City;  Solomon  retained
Aaron  Burr  as  well  as  three other lawyers to defend him, and he was
successfully acquitted of the charge; and
 
  WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is pleased to have  this  opportunity
to  express  its  highest  admiration  for  the  Fulton County Historian
Office, and for all of the individuals who have worked to  bring  proper
attention  to  a  place  and  time which merits recognition in the grand
panorama of the history of our State and Nation; now, therefore, be it
 
  RESOLVED,  That  this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Fulton County  Courthouse;  and
be it further
 
  RESOLVED,  That  a  copy  of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to Samantha Hall-Saladino, Fulton County Historian.
Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Fulton County Courthouse

What's Happening

Why It Matters
