Courthouse 100

By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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The Luzerne County Courthouse isn’t rich in history just because of its age and location.

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It’s also home to the portraits of dozens of former judges, prominent citizens and geographic landmarks of the Wyoming Valley.

Those immortalized in portraits grace the hallways, ceilings and other nooks and crannies in the 100-year-old building, and were outlined in a 1986 edition of History: Luzerne County Courthouse, published when the county celebrated its 200th anniversary.

The small pamphlet touted the courthouse as holder of public affairs, graced by men of “character, ability and earnestness,” many of them soldiers, statesmen and jurists. The men were highlighted in portraits within the county’s “Temple of Justice” and selected by Oscar J. Harvey, Esq., a well-known historian.

First floor, foyer

The foyer contains emblems of Wilkes-Barre, known as the Diamond City, rich in culture, hospitalit and agriculture and graced with mechanical and mining industries.

South corridor

Portraits:

• David Scott – former Luzerne County president judge

• John N. Conyngham – former Luzerne County president judge

• William Jessup – former Luzerne County president judge

• William Sterling Rose – a former associate judge and member of the state Senate

• John B. Gibson – former Luzerne County president judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

• Jesse Fell – former Luzerne County judge and first person to burn anthracite coal in an open grate

• Jacob Rush – first president judge of Luzerne County and judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

• Thomas McKean – former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and governor of Pennsylvania

• Henry M. Hoyt – former Luzerne County judge and governor of Pennsylvania

• Garrick M. Harding – former Luzerne County president judge

• Stanley Woodward – former Luzerne County president judge

• Edmund L. Dana – former Luzerne County president judge and officer during the Mexican and Civil wars

East wing

Portraits:

• “King” Hendrick – Mohawk tribe Indian chief in 1754

• Paxinosa – Shawanese Indian chief in the Wyoming Valley who befriended early settlers

• King George II – King of England in 1754

• Thomas Penn – proprietor of Pennsylvania in 1754

• Charles Stewart – representative of the Pennsylvania claimants of the Wyoming lands

• Eliphalet Dyer – an official of the Susquehanna Company at the time of the Wyoming purchase in 1754, and counsel for Connecticut before the Commissioners at Trenton

• Count Zinzendorf – early Moravian Missionary to the Indians in the Wyoming Valley

• Jonathan Trumball – governor of Connecticut in 1776

• James Nesbitt – one of the six original judges of the Luzerne County courts

• John Jenkins – early Wyoming settler and former judge of Westmoreland County

• John Franklin – early Wyoming settler, prominent citizen, soldier, and an officeholder in Westmoreland and Luzerne counties, respectively

• Nathan Denison – soldier, statesman and a former judge of the Westmoreland County Probate Court

East corridor

• The east corridor contains a picture representing the purchase by settlers from the Six Nation Indians in 1754 of land now included within the limits of Luzerne County.

Portraits:

• John Wilkes and Isaac Barre – English settlers, friends of the American colonists, for whom Wilkes-Barre was named

• Zebulon Butler – Revolutionary soldier, commander of the American forces at the Battle of Wyoming, prominent citizen, and office holder in Westmoreland and Luzerne counties, respectively

• John Durkee – leader and commander of the Connecticut settlers in 1769 who laid out and named Wilkes-Barre

North Wing

• The north wing contains a picture representing transportation facilities in 1769 when the Wyoming Valley was settled by New Englanders. The picture includes a modern railway with coal breaker; and a view of the old “Redoubt” canal basin - the site of the current courthouse – showing a packet boat that was used in the 1850s.

Portraits:

• Joseph Slocum – former associate judge; brother of Frances Slocum – the “Lost Sister of Wyoming” – who was carried away by the Indians

• William Hancock – former associate judge and prominent citizen of the Wyoming Valley

• Ziba Bennett – former associate judge, member of the legislature and a prominent businessman from Wilkes-Barre

• C.D. Shoemaker – former prothonotary, clerk of courts, register and associate judge

• William Marrifield – former associate judge and member of the legislature

• William C. Reynolds – former associate judge and member of the legislature

• Henry Pettebone – former prothonotary, clerk of courts, register and associate judge

• John Koons – former associate judge and prominent citizen of Huntington Valley

• John Handley – former Luzerne County judge when Lackawanna County was created. He was then transferred to the judicial bench of Lackawanna County

• Lyman H. Bennett – former Luzerne County judge

• Daniel L. Rhone – the first judge of Luzerne County Orphan’s Court

• Alfred Darte Jr. – former judge of the county’s Orphan’s Court

North corridor

• The north corridor contains a painting typifying the erection of Luzerne County by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1786

Portraits:

• Matthias Hollenback – one of the six original judges of Luzerne County

• Obadian Gore Jr. – one of the six original judges of Luzerne County

• Nathan Kingsley – one of the six original judges of Luzerne County

• Benjamin Carpenter – one of the six original judges of Luzerne County

West corridor

Portraits:

• Christopher Hurlbut – one of the first Justices of the Peace in Luzerne County

• Joseph Kinney – an early Justice of the Peace in Luzerne County

• Rosewell Welles – the first attorney admitted to the Luzerne County Bar

• Abram Bradley Jr. – early member of the Luzerne County Bar

• Chevalier de la Luzerne – minister from France to the United States for whom the county was named

• William Hooker Smith – one of the six original judges of Luzerne County; prominent physician; and a soldier and surgeon in the Revolutionary War

• Timothy Pickering – an early Luzerne County judge and office holder within the county, later named Postmaster General, Secretary of State and Secretary of War in President George Washington’s cabinet

• Lord Butler – the first sheriff of Luzerne County and later prothonotary

• Noah Murray – former Luzerne County judge

• Seth Chapman – former president judge of Luzerne County

• Thomas Burnside – former president judge of Luzerne County

• Thomas Cooper – former president judge of Luzerne County

• Elisha Blackman – early Justice of the Peace in Luzerne County and soldier in the Battle of Wyoming.

Rotunda, third story gallery

• Allegorical figures are painted in the gallery to symbolize human attributes and qualities, including patriotism, courage, understanding, fortitude, knowledge, conscience, government and virtue. Various paintings symbolize elements, substances and agents of nature, including: Earth, air, fire, water, minerals, the wind, electricity and steam.

• In the panels over the entrance to the four courtrooms are: a representation of the original seal of Luzerne County; a representation of an early seal of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas; a representation of the present seal of the county; a representation of the present seal of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Oyer and Terminer of Luzerne County.

The courthouse “Dome”

• The four large windows within the dome are stained-glass pictures – historical and realistic – representing: the Massacre of settlers by the Indians in 1763, represented by weapons of war; the Battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, represented by the Wyoming monument and fort; agriculture, represented by a sheaf of wheat, plow, etc…; and mining, represented by a coal breaker and mining tools.

• On the four triangular pieces supporting the dome, there are pictures symbolizing moral law, common law, statute law and equity. At the base of the cupola are the coats of arms of the United States and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

• On the panels of the dome are frescoes including peace; justice; abundance; science; freedom – spelled out by a portrait of Abraham Lincoln; independence – explained by a portrait of George Washington; philosophy – typified by a portrait of Benjamin Franklin; and art, spelled out by a portrait of George Catlin, the celebrated painter of Indian life and customs, who was a native of Luzerne County and a member of its bar.

• In the circular skylight crowning the cupola is a stained-glass picture – 15 feet in diameter – representing the seal of the Luzerne County Commissioners.