The Borough Of Media.

The specifications stated that the court-house should be of brick, that above the base-course it should be roughcast and painted, that the roof should be covered with the best leaded tin and surmounted by a cupola and spire, the extreme height from the ground to be eighty feet. The structure was to be two stories high, with the exception of that part occupied by the jury-room, which should be three. The offices were to be one story high and fire-proof, and there were also to be two fire-proof safes on each side of the vestibule. The second floor was designed to contain the court-room and apartments for the jury, witnesses, a law library, and a sitting-room for the judge and associates.

The jail building was to have a house for the sherif in front of the prison proper, and it was to be twenty-six by thirty-eight feet, and to consist of two stories, an attic, and basement. It was directed that it should contain, besides the usual accommodations for the sheriff's family, a parlor, reception-room, and office. The kitchen was to be in the basement, and the second story and attic were to be divided into sleeping chambers. Upon the roof was to be a tank to hold water, which should be conducted to all parts of the house by leaden pipes. On the top was to be an observatory.

It was specified that the prison was to be in the rear of the sheriff's house, and attached to it by a corridor fifteen feet in width, extending also through the entire length of the prison. On each side of this corridor were to be four cells, each eight by twelve feet. There were to be also a bath-room, keeper's room, and infirmary in this part of the building. The second story was to be reached by steps to a gallery extending around the whole of the corridor, opening from which there were to be on each side four cells, each eight by twelve feet as below.

It was provided that a space one hundred by one hundred and twenty-five feet around the prison should be inclosed by a wall, and that there should be a covered way from the corridor to the exercising yards, of which there were to be six, each nineteen feet wide by twenty-nine feet deep, the whole forming a semicircle, after the plan of the celebrated Pentonville prison, near London, England. The prison was to be built of stone, the roof covered with tin, and the whole structure made as strong and as nearly fire-proof as possible.

The corner-stone of the court-house was laid Sept. 24, 1849, in the presence of a considerable number of people. In the stone was placed a leaden box containing a parchment on which was a plan of the town, a description of the public buildings, stating when they were begun and when to be completed, and giving the names of the contractors, together with the names of State and county officers then in service, a full line of the coins of the United States for the year 1849, from a half-eagle down to a cent, copies of the Delaware County Republican, the Upland Union, and other newspapers and public documents. The receptacle was sealed and placed in the stone by Edmund Pennell.

The wells of the court-house were up, and preparations for raising the cupola were made, by Aug. 13, 1850. The stone-work of the prison was about completed by that time, and the sheriff's residence was well advanced. By the 1st of November the court-house was ready for plastering, both inside and out, and the jail almost entirely completed. By the 1st of May, 1851, the court-house was pronounced finished, though it was not ready for occupancy on account of the dampness of the walls. At the last term of court held in Chester, which convened May 26th, the official notice of the completion of the court-house and jail was given in these words, "The Commissioners reported to the Court that the County Buildings, at Media, were completed and ready for occupancy, and the Court directed the following minute to be entered upon the record:

"May 29, 1851 - The Court of Common Pleas, of Delaware County, are satisfied that the Buildings, to wit: - new Jail, Court House and Public Offices, in the Borough of Media, are fully completed according to the true intent and meaning of the act of the Legislature, entitled an Act concerning the removal of the Seat of Justice of Delaware County. Approved the 3d day of March, 1847."

After the close of this term of court, the last to be held in the old court-house at Chester, the Delaware County Republican alluding to the change, said, "The next term will be held at Media, an order having been issued by the Court to remove the records and other property to the new County Seat, prior to August. Our ancient Borough, which had been the Seat of Justice from the time of the Swedes, will never again, we suppose, be visited by the hurry, bustle and commotion of Court week."

The removal of the county records from Chester to Media was begun on Monday, June 16th, and by the evening of Wednesday, the 18th, both the records from the court-house and the prisoners from the jail had been placed in their new quarters.

In the mean time the work of paving the square went on, and various details of external adornment and internal finishing and furnishing were added. The bell for the court-house, of Philadelphia manufacture and weighing seven hundred pounds, was received on August 12th, but was not hung in place in proper time to announce by its sonorous strokes the convening of the first court held in Media, which opened on Monday, Aug. 25, 1851.

It is recorded that on that day the crowd was so great as to fill all parts of the room, including the passageways, and, in fact, every spot on which space enough to stand could be had. A writer of reminiscences in the Delaware County Democrat says of this first court, "The business of the term was opened by President Judge Henry Chapman, aided by his Associates, Joseph Engle and George G. Leiper. After the charge to the Grand Jury and a neat address to the citizens