Spotlight: Atlantic County Courthouse

By Mike Mathis

Judiciary Times Editor

When many think of Atlantic County, what likely first comes to mind is Atlantic City, its casinos and its long history as a vacation destination and interesting political figures of the past.

What they likely don’t know is that Atlantic City isn’t the seat of county government. That distinction goes to Mays Landing, a village that officially is part of Hamilton Township. So why is a county seat – usually designated to a larger city – located in one of the state’s smaller municipalities? Mays Landing was designated the county seat a few months after Atlantic County was created from Gloucester County on Feb. 7, 1837.

Atlantic City was not incorporated until May 1, 1854, and Mays Landing – the largest community at the time - was located on a navigable stream, an important consideration in an era when there were few roads and no railway, according to the Atlantic County Historical Society.

Mays Landing also was centrally located. It had about 30 houses, four stores, three taverns and a Methodist church. Samuel Richards, proprietor of the Weymouth Iron Works, and his wife gave the Atlantic County Board of Freeholders a six-acre property on Main Street for the construction of county buildings in May 1838. A courthouse was built soon afterward.

The first courthouse was 40 feet square and included courtrooms, a law library, judges’ chambers and prosecutors’ offices. Grand jury and witness rooms were added in 1906. The building was renovated in 1930. The county complex also included a jail and clerk’s and surrogates’ offices. Over the next century and a half, many changes occurred, including the replacement of the original jail.

In 1980, the courthouse was expanded to join the separate buildings into a single complex to accommodate a growing Judiciary. The building today includes the offices of the Atlantic County surrogate, Atlantic County clerk and The Atlantic County Board of Freeholders. Meanwhile, the growing population of Atlantic County prompted the need for new court buildings.

The Atlantic County Civil Courts Building was built in Atlantic City in1976 and was expanded, renovated and rededicated in 1985. Before 1976, civil cases were heard in several buildings in Atlantic City: the Guarantee Trust Building, the Segal Building, the Schwinn Building, Carpenters Hall, the old Atlantic City City Hall and the Electric Company Building. The latter two buildings have been demolished.

A modern, 180,000-square-foot criminal courts facility was built on 20 acres in the Hamilton Township Industrial Park on Unami Drive in Mays Landing. It was completed in 2004.