Project Scroll Research Note 2026-62: The 1841 Cass County court house as the "Old Court Ho." in 1899 and the "Opera Ho." in 1909: the Sanborn maps of Cassopolis

Cass County's second court house, a white frame building 54 by 46 feet built under a contract of 7 August 1839, stood on the northeast quarter of the Cassopolis public square until the stone court house of 1898–1899 replaced it. Glover's county history of 1906 records its sale to George M. Kingsbury for $25, on condition that he move it and leave the county its use until the new building was finished, and found it on the south side of State Street "used as a storage house." A theatre history says it opened as the Colonial Opera House in 1899; the earliest newspaper mention of it as a hall found until now is of November 1913. The Sanborn fire-insurance maps of Cassopolis settle part of this. The map of May 1899 shows the building at the southeast corner of State and Disbrow Streets, marked "Old Court Ho." and heated by stoves. The map of January 1909 shows the same building on the same lots as the "Opera Ho.," heated by steam and lit by electricity, with a two-story wing behind marked "Stage & Scenery." Scaled from the maps, the main body is about 53 feet long, the length the 1839 contract required. The building had been fitted as an opera house, with a stage built on, by January 1909. Project Scroll Research Note 2026-62, version 1. The note sets out the record quoted, where it is held, what it changes, its limits, and what was searched before calling it new. Web version: projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-62/.