So You Think You Know The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum
By: Ken Marotte, Citrus County Historical Society
Local residents think they’re familiar with the history of the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum. From patriotic pest management, to Dancing Deputies, to wild hogs – the Museum has experienced some interesting times that may surprise you.
Patriotic Pest Management
After a community-wide effort to save the Old Courthouse in the 1990’s, the building’s refurbishment was completed in 2000. A few years later, a routine inspection detected that termites had infested the old beams of the Museum. Many Floridians have experienced this situation and know that an impacted structure needs a special insecticide to remove the pests. Moreover, the entire building must be covered in a canvas tent for the treatment to be effective. Given the size and unique structure of the Old Courthouse, treatment would prove to be a difficult task.
Citrus County engaged a local company – Accurate Pest Management – to handle this mammoth task. In the post-9/11 environment, company owner Ed Williams wanted to complete the job but also rally residents in a show of patriotism. Williams purchased red, white and blue canvas sheets and mobilized his staff to envelope the Museum so that it would reflect the national mood. Heavy-duty cranes arrived on the scene in September 2004 and his men mounted the stairwells up to the very top of the cupola. Perched outside the windows, they guided the red canvas across the roof. Once the blue layer topped the building, the Museum was ready for effective treatment.
It was inspiring to see the extra effort that Williams and his team expended to make a patriotic statement in those dark days.
[Photos courtesy of Ed Williams, Accurate Pest Management]
Dancing Deputies
The Citrus County Courthouse was still being used for limited government operations in 1985. Nashville’s Bob Cummings Video Productions approached the county’s leaders for permission to film a music video on the courthouse grounds. Country singer David Walsh wanted to perform his new song “Tired of the Same Ole Thing” on the steps of the historic building. Professional dancers would be featured but members of the public would be invited to show off their dance moves in the background. As is the case for most public events, Citrus County Sheriff Charles S. Dean Sr. dispatched some of his deputies as part of a crowd control detail. The deputies were surprised when they were invited to join the crowd and show off some of their dance moves. The Dancing Deputies strutted in front of the cameras on Wednesday August 7, 1985 and were memorialized in this photo. As you can imagine, the scene attracted the attention of some of the workers inside the courthouse who can be seeing watching from the windows.
The tune faced stiff competition from artists George Strait, Alabama and the Bellamy Brothers that year. Unfortunately, the song failed to hit the charts and the video is unavailable today.
Wild Hogs and Courthouse Fence
Citrus County had an “open range” rule when the courthouse was constructed in 1912. Livestock such as cattle and pigs were allowed to roam freely on any open land that they happened to see. The Open Range concept worked well while Florida was sparsely populated. However, as more settlers arrived, people relied on gardens and farms for their livelihoods. Roaming livestock could wreak havoc on those private farms. Hogs could cause considerable damage but the property owner was responsible for erecting a fence if they wanted to keep other’s livestock out.
In addition to property damage, pigs attracted fleas and their excretion was full of harmful parasites. As soon as the courthouse was constructed, the Commissioners noticed that the land around the building was being decimated by the freely roaming pigs. They were using the side of the courthouse wall to relive themselves and this action was starting to damage the foundational blocks.
It took only a few months after occupying the courthouse for the leaders to realize that they had to do something to address the menace. On April 07, 1913 the Clerk was ordered to advertise for bids “…to build sidewalks, address all yard damage, and furnish and erect fence around new court house.” The fence had to be strong to resist the swine invaders. The wrought iron fence must feature one inch iron pickets and a height of three feet.
Graham & Stage was awarded the contract to build the fence, landscape the grounds and construct a pipe to carry away waste water for today’s equivalent of $125,000. Black oxide paint was applied in 1914 and periodically refreshed. The barrier seemed to address the problem and the swine found other areas to graze. Livestock fencing laws were passed from 1949 – 1952 which alleviated the need for a fence around the courthouse, so it was removed.
Fireplaces vs Furnace
Visitors may notice that there are a number of fireplaces throughout the Old Courthouse. Some have been refurbished, such as the former Judge E.C. May’s chamber (now a gift shop) and in the first-floor ladies room. Other fireplaces were left in their original state to depict their condition when they were actually in operation. More fireplaces were dismantled during the renovation stage of the 1990’s. Since there was no central heating system, wood fires were the only way to keep warm.
Judge May noted: “I brought in all my wood and often furnished it. I tried to keep warm by a fireplace that often “back-fired” when it was cold and rainy, and fire and black smoke would billow into the office instead of going up the chimney where it belonged. Then there was nothing to do except race for the water bucket and douse the fire, or the place would be ruined. Then smoke, soot, ashes, and pandemonium took over, and everything was a mess for sure. You spent the rest of the day in cold and fireless discomfort and in trying to get things clean again. It was not likely that the chimney would “draw” again that day, and you tried to make it “draw” at your peril.”
While the original specifications called for wood heat, the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) changed their minds and approved the installation of a steam heating plant in the basement. There was a problem. There was no basement. So the BoCC contracted for the installation of a stream heating system which included the excavation of a basement under the courthouse building to house the furnace. There was an outcry of disapproval in the community at the expenditure of tax money for a such a luxury.
The Citrus Chronicle opined “…a heating apparatus in the courthouse advertises this section as unusually cold, when quite the reverse is true. We do not approve of this useless expenditure of people’s money…we do not believe that the taxpayers of Citrus county are under obligations to contribute needlessly to the support of any firm installing heating apparatus”.
The BoCC reconsidered its prior approval and changed in the opposite direction. Steam heat was out, and the fireplaces were back in the plan. The company that excavated the basement was compensated and it was left in unfinished condition for the time being.
It’s ironic to note that a year later (1913) the BoCC directed the County Clerk to obtain bids for four electric heaters for the courtroom.
Visit the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum
If you haven’t visited the Museum recently, please stop by soon! We are rated 4 ½ stars out of 5 on Trip Advisor and Visitor Surveys rate us 9 out of 10 stars. A typical comment: ”Great little place filled to the rim with information and displays very educational, a lot to look at and read!! Loved it”. We are located in the heart of downtown Inverness and offer tours from 10am – 4pm Tuesday through Saturday.