Whoa…how can it possibly be so close to the end of summer?! 

Feels like I only just got back from a terrific May trip to NoCal to visit family! And ya know, on top of being just plain fun to hang with, my kin always find really fun activities to share when their nerdy auntie comes to town! We’ve gone on nature hikes, toured museums and elegant old homes, and even strolled a monastery full of history – and full of wine!

One field trip on this recent visit was to meet up with a niece and her clan in the California town that was once known as “the Queen City of the Northern Mines”. Now it calls back those Gold Rush days with a swath of its past preserved along Highway 299 – and one establishment that particularly caught my eye!

In the town of Shasta, it’s Shasta State Historic Park!

This onetime “Queen City” that lies about six miles from Redding was originally called Reading Springs, and then in 1850 it became Shasta (the name of a local Native American tribe). Redding, by the way, had previously gone by the handle of Poverty Flats – can’t imagine why they changed it.

After the business section of town was destroyed by fire in 1853, they went with brick buildings and iron window shutters. But even these didn’t quite stand the test of time and economic tide:

For reasons like the dwindling number of gold claims, and the fact that it didn’t become a stop on the Central Pacific Railroad line in the 1880’s (Redding did), the stature of this former mining metropolis dwindled as well. 

Across the street from those decaying buildings is one that got a glow up to showcase the age when it served as a kind of one-stop shop for dispensing justice. Maybe you simply can’t take the paralegal out of this girl (believe me, I’ve tried…) – but it’s the Courthouse Museum that’s stuck with me the most:

Restored to its 1860’s heyday, there are terrific exhibits inside about the area’s diverse history, development and fortunes! 

What really fascinated me was how this courthouse represented a frontier bid to make the Wild West not quite so wild. Pretty much the whole legal process of the era was housed right here:  jail cells on the lowest floor; a courtroom above where fates of the accused were decided by their peers (I’m guessing by a passel o’ white fellas); and a shockingly convenient scaffold just outside where the condemned met their maker. Quite the example of efficiency!

Okay, so it’s not that I’m obsessed with courthouses – but the visit did remind me of this one that has a bit of a family connection for me: 

It was completed in 1972 by the company for which my grandpa Jack worked (Gust K. Newberg Co.) – and Grandpa oversaw the construction of other major SoCal buildings! By its size, they clearly anticipated managing a lot more legal business than Shasta’s courthouse – and it isn’t even the only LA building with that job! 

It’s now known as the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in honor of the woman who became the first female lawyer on the West Coast by passing the California State Bar in 1878! To accomplish this, she first had to author a state bill declaring that membership in the California Bar didn’t require one to be a “white male”, but simply a “person”. So now on top of managing the caseload for the Tinsel Town area, the Center also acknowledges a moment when the justice system took a step toward being more just!

Okay fine – I’m gonna go ahead and run with this courthouse thing! A couple hours’ drive up the coast from LA is another courthouse which, to me, covers both form and function with incredible success! It’s the stunning Santa Barbara County Courthouse:

This beautiful Spanish Colonial-style spread within sight of the Pacific Ocean was completed in 1929 and pays homage in lots of ways to the area’s history and cultural influences. The most impressive part to me is the Mural Room which honors the people who’ve called the area home, from native Chumash, to Spanish, Mexican and US peoples – all of them facets in a true jewel of a region!

Another courthouse that I think went for a bit more of a classical “wow factor” is the New York County Courthouse in Manhattan:

Completed in 1927 and also known as the New York State Supreme Court Building, it’s in the shape of a hexagon (hard to tell from the pic) with an exterior of sturdy and imposing granite. Wish I could talk firsthand about the artwork and such inside, but I didn’t go in. I do very much appreciate that sentiment etched across the front though:  “THE TRUE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IS THE FIRMEST PILLAR OF GOOD GOVERNMENT”.

Well, they don’t try cases underneath this dome anymore – but they used to, so I’m going to allow it. Finally, I present to you the Massachusetts State House which looms over the green grasses of Boston Common and is a stop on Boston’s history-laden Freedom Trail!

Part of Boston National Historic Park, it’s home to the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and has been the seat of Massachusetts government since 1798! When I was there in 2013, there was pretty obvious consensus on support for the Red Sox (they won the World Series that year!). But according to the National Park Service website, representatives and citizens have long debated there over “…the essential principles of justice, liberty, and representation”. Among the issues tackled as this part of a young nation struggled to find its way were slavery, segregated education, and a woman’s right to vote.

Alright, so may it please the court – with respect to my aforementioned assertion that I am not predisposed to the favoring of courthouses, there does appear to be a preponderance of evidence to the contrary. Yeah, I guess I am kinda struck by these structures which, each of different design, are meant to have in common the concept of justice. 

I consulted several dictionary and law type sources to see what a standard definition of “justice” would be. The simplest of three uses of the word is the one that refers to someone’s title. Then there’s the legal meaning having to do with the process of impartially identifying and administering the thing. And finally there’s an ethical meaning where words like “fairness”, “rightness” and “truth” came up a bunch of times across my little survey.

I can’t help but wonder whether if you quizzed people in each of these courthouses at the time it was first completed, their definitions of “justice” and its pillars might be as different as the buildings themselves? I suppose “justice” is an idea that’s bound to be tested when and wherever it’s applied. It’s a thing that gets challenged. A thing that gets redefined. But hopefully, a thing that endures in its purest sense.

Over the years, these edifices have similarly been added to, rethought and rededicated. Seems to me that whether they’re decorated with inspiring murals, adorned by stately columns and statues, or topped with a shining golden dome, these halls needed to be built with good materials and a firm, unshakable foundation beneath in order to serve for generations to come. And I truly hope they do!

Cheers – oh, and court’s adjourned!

P.S. Below is the building in Arrow Rock, Missouri, that served as the courthouse in the 1973 movie musical “Tom Sawyer”! It might not quite fit into today’s topic – but the town and the movie are both very dear to me, so I’m allowing it as well!