Injunction Against the City

The Marietta Register, September 29, 1871

The Council of Marietta broke ground a few days ago on the lower end of the Common, on Front Street above Putnam, for the erection of a City Building, to contain the Mayor's Office, Council Chamber, Police Office, City Prison, Firemen's Hall and Engine Room - whereupon two applications were made to the Court for an injunction to stop the city from the work, one on the part of M. D. Follett and other citizens, the other by Weston Thomas, David Barber, and F. a. Wheeler, Trustees for land granted in Washington County for religious purposes.

The cases were heard before Judge E. A. Guthrie at the Court House, Thursday, September 21st.

It was claimed on part of the citizens, plaintiffs, that the ground named on which the city was about to erect this building, had been for more than three-quarters of a century left open and used for public amusements; that the citizens asking for the injunction had taken the titles to their lots fronting on the Common with the understanding that it was to be kept open for public ornament and amusement, and had a right to have it kept open; that it having in the grant been given for a Common, its use could not be diverted to any other purpose. The defense denied and claimed the right of the city to use the grounds for public buildings, as within the grant for a "Common." 

The Court granted a temporary injunction on this application, enjoining M. H. Needham, W. W. McCoy, and others, contractors and builders, from proceeding with the work. Knowles, Alban, Ewart and Follett, counsel for plaintiffs; City Solicitor R. L. Nye, and Nye & Richardson for defendant.

For the Trustees, it was claimed that they had Section 29 in Town 2 and Range 8, part of which falls within the corporate limits of Marietta, a portion left open as the Common in question, on which the city was now about to erect the building for municipal purposes. Questions, whether the Trustees had any powers as such, and any powers over this Common, and what were powers of the city over the same, involving not only the legal title, but the duties of the Trustees.

The Court overruled the application for a temporary injunction in this case, and leaves the application for a perpetual injunction, on final hearing. Knowles, Alban & Hamilton, for plaintiffs; Nye & Richardson, for defense.