would provide more ample space for the growing needs of the county. They were also em-
powered to sell the clerk's office and the office of the county commissioners as well as what
could be salvaged from the old courthouse, and to use the proceeds therefrom for the new
building.²⁰ A special commission was named in the Act to have direct responsibility for the
courthouse. This group employed the architects Frank E. and Henry R. Davis of Baltimore
City, and the contract for the building was awarded to Washington P. Pusey of Snow Hill and
Lawrence L. Pusey of Princess Anne. The first brick was laid August 26, 1904, and the com-
mission accepted the finished structure November 22, 1905. Lankford, who served as a mem-
ber of the commission, describes the building in the peroration of his dedicatory address:

The building is ninety by sixty feet and it is constructed of red sand brick with
granite foundation and trimmings of Indiana limestone. Of this structure what need
now be said? It is here to be seen, and to be seen is to be admired and appreciated by
all. It is strong and substantial, built upon a foundation both broad and deep; it is
throughout its whole extent well adapted to the purpose for which it was designed;
it is complete; it is a thing of beauty: may it be a joy to generations yet to come.

No doubt, to the late Victorians Lankford's esthetic judgment seemed sound. Perhaps
some future generation will again find this style beautiful or at least interesting. But our
contemporaries will not find it stirring nor will they fail to regret the older building which was
beautiful, despite its inadequate ventilation. In any case, the courthouse of 1905 is still in use
and it has required few changes in the course of half a century and none of importance.

²⁰Ch. 75

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