Decatur County Journal
March 7, 1907

COURT HOUSE CONTRACTORS MAKING SATISFACTORY PROGRESS WITH COURT HOUSE MATERIALS.

LAURITZEN BROS., of Waterloo, the contractors who were awarded the contract for Decatur County's new Court House, are fast getting the materials in shape for the actual building operations which will begin April 1st. They have closed contracts for all the material that they will use in the construction of our new county building, and working drawings for the stone and steel work are also nearly completed.

LAURITZEN BROS. will load a car with tools and building apparatus at Waterloo this week and it will be forwarded to Leon in charge of their foreman, J.J. Peterson, just as soon as the loading is completed. The car is expected to reach Leon the last of the present week or the first of next week.

They are contracting for only the best of material and all of it is being prepared under their personal direction. That LAURITZEN BROS. have made such satisfactory progress will be most gratifying to the people of Decatur County. This firm of contractors are among the most reliable and most capable builders in the business and it is fortunate that our Board of Supervisors succeeded in placing the contract with them. The work will be rushed just as fast as good work will allow.

The gang of men who have been engaged for the past two weeks in tearing down the old Court House, tore away the last remaining bit of wall standing, Saturday, and are now cleaning up what good brick remain on the ground and clearing away the debris in order that the contractors can begin the work of excavating promptly on time. All of the old material has been hauled to the vacant lot just north of the county jail where it is carefully piled and is now offered for sale in quantities to suit purchasers. Quite a large amount of the material from the old structure has already been sold and an immense amount of good material, both lumber and brick, is now available.

Copied by Nancee (McMurtrey) Seifert
September 28, 2001