It has been reported that if the commissioners should build a new courthouse on any other site than where the present building 
stands, the vacated plot would revert to the heirs of John Cole Sr.
	And so Attorney Lowdermilk a few days ago made a diligent search of the records in the Register of Deeds office and found the 
original deed made by John Cole, Sr., which was a deed in fee simple, and which sets at rest any idea that the land would revert 
to the heirs.
	The deed shows that the General Assembly in session at Newbern in 1779 passed an act cutting off a strip from Anson county and 
forming the County of Richmond, and appointing H.W. Harrington, John Cole and Robert Webb as commissioners. It shows that on April 1st, 
1785, John Cole, Sr., deeded 32 acres of land east of Hitchcock Creek and west of Falling Creek to the commissoners for the county for 
the sum of 9 pounds and 12 shillings. No conditions were imposed or restrictions made. It is on this 32-acre tract that Rockingham is 
built, in the center of which is the courthouse. The present commissioners can move to another site, and sell or in any other manner 
dispose of the present site, should they see fit.

Rockingham Post-Dispatch Oct 12, 1922

CONTENTS OF BOX IN CORNER STONE OF COURT HOUSE

	Chapter 265 of the Public Local Laws of North Carolina, Session of 1919, and Chapter 183 of the Public Local Laws of North Carolina, 
Extra Session of 1920, authorizing the building of a new court house.
	Then names of state officers, of congressmen of this Congressional District, of Judge and Solicitor of this Judicial District, of 
all county officers and of the officers of the town of Rockingham.
	Financial state of Richmond County for the year 1922
	Copy of the Minutes of the Board of County Commissioners of May 1st, 1922, selecting site for new court house.
	Copy of the Minutes of the Board of County Commissioners of May 3rd, 1922, awarding contract for construction of new court house to 
Messrs. Jno. P. Little and Son.
	Copies of the Charlotte Observer of October 11, 1922, of Selder's Weekly of October 6th, 1922, of the Hamlet News-Messenger of October 
5th, 1922, of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch of April 27th, May 4th and October 5th, 1922.
	Copies of Deeds executed by John Cole, Sr., to Henry W. Harrington, John Cole and Robert Webb, Esqrs., Commissioners, and of a Deed 
from John James, Sr. to Henry W. Harrington, John Cole and Robert Webb, Esqrs., Commissioners wherein 48 acres of land were conveyed upon 
which the town of Rockingham now stands, including this site. 	Copies of Deeds from J. P. Leak and Mollie Russell, and others, conveyed 
to the County of Richmond the site upon which this building is being erected.

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