CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County courthouse’s demolition ends a lengthy chapter in Hub City history.
Black mold and asbestos throughout the building prompted the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners to vote for its closure in October 2015. The courthouse closed its doors for the final time in April 2016 and demolition of the site began this week.
The current courthouse building was built in 1955 for about $400,000. The central portion of the structure functioned as a bomb shelter due to its Cold War-era construction, according to Ann Spann of the Baker Block Museum.
Newspaper reports at the time didn’t indicate a specific reason for construction, as it replaced an existing courthouse. The rebuild was possibly little more than progression for the city, Spann believes.
The county courthouse’s history goes back even further than the 1955 building.
The site housed Okaloosa County’s first courthouse, constructed in 1918. This original courthouse was priced at about $29,000, according to news clippings the museum provided. Although, a cost of up to $30,000 was “within the appropriation,” the excerpt read.
J.J. Brett and W.J. Rice, owners of the Crestview Land Company, donated the 11-acre site for the first courthouse. The building featured steam heating, electrical lighting and a functioning plumbing system.
Robert Blackwell, a confessed murderer, was executed by hanging at the courthouse on July 30, 1920. This was the first murder case tried in Okaloosa County, according to Spann. Blackwell addressed a large crowd of attendees for about 20 minutes before his execution. His body was placed in a coffin in the courthouse for viewing after the hanging.
Two others were hanged on the Okaloosa courthouse’s lawn. Putnam Ponsell and Jacob Benjamin were also convicted of murder and executed Sept. 23, 1921. They warned the crowd in attendance to learn from their mistakes and turn to God, according to writings the museum provided.
Execution by hanging was performed in Florida by local jurisdictions, but outlawed by the state in 1923 and replaced by the electric chair.
The current courthouse’s demolition isn’t the end of the story for the Okaloosa County Courthouse in Crestview, merely the beginning of a new chapter.
County commissioners voted to construct a new courthouse on the same site at a cost not to exceed $23 million. Completion of the new structure is expected around July 2018.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Remembering the county courthouse