The Journal-Record - Bicentennial Edition Thursday, July 1, 1976 Section B, Page 7 MARION COUNTY COURT HOUSE BURNS On a Wednesday night in late March, 1887 at about 1:30 a.m. the Courthouse in Hamilton was discovered on fire. Before any possible effort could be made to save anything in the courthouse, it was a solid mass of flames, and it took hard fighting to keep the fire from spreading to the adjacent building. All records dating back to the time when the county was established were lost in this fire. The courthouse, a wooden structure, cost the county a remarkable low amount, only about four thousand dollars. The County Library, said to have been one of the best and most complete in the State at the time was worth about fifteen hundred dollars on account of several of the books were almost out of print and valuable on account of their scarcity. The indictment record, and all the books, papers, etc. belonging to the offices of the Circuit Clerk, Sheriff, Tax Collector and Assessor and all the bonds and notes taken by Mr. LODEN as County Administrator were destroyed. In fact no books or records belonging to any of the offices were saved except those of the County Superintendent and the County Treasurer. Nothing was known as to how the fire started and nothing but theories and conjectures were advanced.