Sheridan County Courthouse now and then
By ALLAN TINKER
The current McClusky Courthouse when new, was recognized in a special section in the September 20, 1940 McClusky Gazette. It celebrated its 80th birthday on September
25, 2020. The process of what became the current building included two other locations, one was temporary locations in a concrete block building (Seibel Building) that stood on current Holen’s Super Valu site. The other, a two-story frame building, was near the same location as the current courthouse. The “block building” on Main Street burned down on
during the winter of 1941, after WWII had started and on a Sunday, taking down the Wentz IGA grocery store at the same time. The grocery store belonged to the grandfather of
Clifford Neff, who added information from that time for this article. The two-story frame building was torn down after the sturdy 52 by 88 concrete, steel reinforced building was built and dedicated on September 25 with a full day of celebration. Neff recalled doing the landscaping work for these buildings, both after destruction and preparation for building. Neff recalled that a fire escape was added to the south side when government became safety conscious in the 1980’s and he welded the escape steel to the metal window
framework on the south side of the building. When the rock formation in front of the courthouse later deteriorated, Neff and Reiny Dickhaut, replaced the foundation under the heavy formation in the winter, lifting with a loader while an iron steel slab was slid under. Neff had figured out how to do the repairs without damaging the lawn. The iron slab came from
Porter Brothers Hide and Furs in Bismarck.
