A Visit To The Old Park County Courthouse

This is the staircase in the old Park County Courthouse in Fairplay where my great-great-grandfather, Wilburn Christison, was the Park County Judge from 1873-1882. I love running my hand over the banister, imagining Wilburn's hand gliding over it as he walked up the stairs to court. I can almost hear his footsteps. 

Judge Wilburn Christison

Gayle Gresham

At 54 years old, I am the same age as the Judge was when he succumbed to pneumonia on February 7, 1882. 

Courtroom

The courthouse is undergoing historic preservation and it is wonderful to see the improvements made. The wood floor was refinished and the windows are being restored. Visit this link to see more about the preservation.

This vault is in the county judge's office on the first floor. It was possibly installed in 1881 when three offices were created on the first floor, including the county judge's office. The vault is impressive!

I would like to thank Jennie Andrusin, Park County Projects and Grants Manager, for giving me and my friends a tour of the courthouse and the jail.

And here is the link to a post from when I visited the courthouse in 2007 before they started the restoration. 

The Fairplay Jail

If you know about the song I wrote, "Freedom in January," then you know the story of Ernest Christison breaking out of the Buena Vista jail with eleven other prisoners. But the Fairplay jail also plays a prominent part in the cattle rustling story.

Ernest Christison was arrested by a group of South Park cattlemen at St. Elmo on the 6th of July in 1883. The cattlemen also arrested four others: Charlie Christison (Ernest's 14-year-old brother), Billy Taylor (Ernest's 21-year-old brother-in-law), John Taylor (Ernest's father-in-law) and John Meyer (who rode along with John Taylor when he delivered supplies). The cattlemen took their prisoners on a 3-day ride across South Park to Rocky, where a justice of peace bound the men over for trial. Then they were incarcerated in the Fairplay Jail. 

To make things even more interesting, Ernest and Charlie's father, Wilburn Christison, was the Park County Judge from 1872 until he died in 1882, the year before Ernest and the others were arrested. Ernest and Charlie spent time in their father's jail.

Gayle Gresham, Laura Van Dusen, and Christie Wright

I visited the Fairplay Jail behind the old Fairplay Courthouse today with two Park County authors, Christie Wright (South Park Perils) and Laura Van Dusen (Parked in the Past). Christie arranged for us to go into the jail, which isn't open to the public, with Jennie Andrusin, the Park County Project and Grants Manager. 

There are two tiny cells in the jail, with places for 4 bunks in each. There would hardly be room to walk between the bunks if there were two on the other side.

Apparently, Buena Vista wasn't Christison's first attempt at a jail break. On March 18, 1884, a Fairplay prisoner broke out of jail using a small saw that Ernest Christison had used to saw away at one of the bars. While Christison was unsuccessful, Byard cut away a 10" x 16" hole to crawl through and escape. Byard also sawed under the cover of a fiddler who played every night after supper. (This story is told on page 55 of Christie Wright's book, South Park Perils.)

Elizabeth Jane Christison's Obituary

Canon City Record May 19, 1898
Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection

I found it! Elizabeth Jane Christison's obituary. Proof that my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Jane Christison, died in Howard, Colorado (known as Pleasant Valley before it was name Howard) and she was buried in the Valley Cemetery, which is the Howard Cemetery. And it confirms her date of death, May 10, 1898, which is recorded in the family record of births and deaths.

I love the fact that she was known as "Grandma Christison"  and was "well known and beloved by all who knew her." Some details are a little vague - she was a pioneer woman at Cash Creek, eighteen miles south of Leadville and her husband was a judge, not a clerk in Lake County and Park County.

Now I am even more convinced that the marker for "Dan Christinsen" should really read "Jane Christison."

For more information about Elizabeth Jane Christison see:
Searching For Elizabeth Jane Christison's Grave
Elizabeth Jane Christison - A Colorado Pioneer
The Death of Judge Christison