BRIDGEWATER - The new Bridgewater justice centre has been a long time coming, but the original courthouse wasn't without its controversies either.

 Even before it was built, the Pleasant Street structure was a source of contention as Bridgewater and Lunenburg struggled for supremacy in the county.

 Lunenburg had been the centre of government here since 1775 and did not want to lose that position to the growing Bridgewater. So when officials began discussing the need for a courthouse and jail near the end of the 19th century, a battle began.

 Courts traditionally met in private homes, churches or other public buildings, but the circuit judges who heard cases began to expect more appropriate surroundings.

 The first courthouse in Nova Scotia - now a national historic site - was built in Tusket in 1805. Bridgewater's, when it was eventually constructed in 1893, became the 14th in the province.

 The construction of a courthouse was the responsibility of the county in which it stood. The Lunenburg Municipal Council had 13 members, who split into two factions, with seven councillors consistently favouring Bridgewater and six voting for Lunenburg.

 For two years, between 1891 and 1893, the struggle raged. In April 1891, the Municipality of Chester opted to support Lunenburg. The Town of Lunenburg passed a motion refusing to contribute toward the building of a courthouse anywhere else, then went ahead and built a courthouse in 1892.

 As Lunenburg continued to protest the building of a second courthouse, tempers flared. At a May 1892 meeting of municipal council, a councillor who supported Bridgewater claimed he'd been offered a $1,000 bribe to vote for Lunenburg. There were also allegations of threats being made.

 The purchase of land in Bridgewater was approved, but the conflict continued.

 Finally, in 1893, Premier W.S. Fielding ended the dispute by an Act of Legislature. It allowed for two courthouses in Lunenburg County and ordered the municipality to pay $9,500 toward the construction of each of them. The spring sittings of the Supreme Court were to be held in Lunenburg and the autumn sittings in Bridgewater.

 The earliest courthouses had been built of wood or stone at the lower level and wood above. From about 1860 on, because of the risk of fire, most were constructed of stone or brick.

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 The original Lunenburg courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1930. But Bridgewater, one of the last built of wood, has stood for more than a century.

 For many years, it housed the town offices and Lunenburg Municipal Council meetings. It was also the original home of the DesBrisay Museum until about 1938.

 By the 1960s, there was talk of the need for a new, larger facility. The Pleasant Street courthouse was extensively renovated over the years, but gradually became too small and crowded.

 Discussions came and went over the years, as committees and commissions formed and fell. In the 1990s, various governments recognized the need for a new facility.

 Then in 2003, the Conservative government announced a new $10 million justice centre for Lunenburg County, reigniting the century-old debate between the two towns as both vied for the new structure.

 That ended in August 2004 with the announcement that the new justice centre would be built on High Street, adjacent to the existing provincial building, and Lunenburg would get its own provincial building.

 When the first tenders were called, the justice centre was expected to open in May 2008 at a cost of about $10.5 million. The last figures released by the province revealed the price tag had climbed to nearly $16 million.

 The Pleasant Street building now reverts to the municipality, which has declared it surplus and plans to put it up for sale.

posted on 06/30/09