History of Ohio District Courts

The land we call Ohio today was part of the territory that the United States won by defeating the British in the Revolutionary War. In 1787, Congress passed the ordinance creating the Northwest Territory, the first commonwealth in the world whose organic law recognized every man as free and equal.¹ In 1800, Congress divided the territory into two governments, the seat of the eastern government was located at Chillicothe, Ohio.²

On February 19, 1803, Congress passed an act "to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the State of Ohio" and organized Ohio as a judicial district with one judgeship for the U.S. district court.³ The district court in Ohio, not being assigned to a judicial circuit, was granted the same jurisdiction as U.S. circuit courts, except in appeals and writs of error, which were the jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The date of March 1, 1803, is considered the date on which Ohio became a state of the Union⁴ because that was the earliest date that the Ohio Legislature could assemble and take over from the territorial government. The first Ohio Constitution expressly provided in the third section of the schedule that "the Governor, Secretary and Judges, and all other officers under the territorial government shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their respective departments, until said officers are superseded under the authority of the Constitution."⁵

The Honorable Charles Willing Byrd produced a commission, from President Thomas Jefferson bearing the date of March 3, 1803, appointing Byrd judge of the District of Ohio, together with a certificate of his having taken the oath of office administered by Edward Tiffin, governor of the State of Ohio.⁶ Thereupon the first court for the District of Ohio was held in the structure pictured above, in the town of Chillicothe on Monday, June 6, 1803. The Ohio Common Pleas Court and the Ohio Supreme Court were also held there.

The second district court building, pictured below, was constructed on Broad Street in Columbus around 1820 and court was held there until the district divided in 1855. The building on the left is the U. S. Post Office and Courthouse, the one in the middle is the Ohio Office Building and the one on the right is the Ohio State House, ca. 1820-1855.⁷

On February 10, 1855, Ohio was divided into two districts, the Northern District and the Southern District.⁸ Judge Humphrey Howe Leavitt, who had been serving the District of Ohio since June 30, 1834, became first district judge of the Southern District of Ohio. On February 20, 1855, Hiram V. Willson was appointed first district judge for the Northern District. Court was required to be held at Cincinnati and Cleveland.