The Court House (Supreme Court Building), Belize City
Built in classic British colonial style the Supreme Court building in Belize City is complete with clock tower.
The original courthouse in Belize City was destroyed by fire in 1818 and in 1926 a new building was constructed to house the Supreme Court. This grand old edifice has 4 clocks facing each of the cardinal points and is entered via an intricate ironwork stairway leading to the second-floor veranda.
The Supreme Court of Belize still holds several annual sessions on the second floor while the first floor houses a daily magistrate’s court.
The court is not opened to the general public.
On September 1st, 1786, at a magistrate meeting, a man by the name of “Dan” offered a lot located at the present day Government House. This lot was the first location considered for the Court House. As faith would have it, the lot was used for the construction of the Government House in 1814 and the rest is history. Here are seven additional facts:
1) The first Court House was built in 1818, and was almost destroyed in the great fire of 1863, which burnt almost the entire town.
4)The 1818 Court House was replaced in 1880 with a new Court House constructed out of wood with the same architectual design as the current Court House. The second court house was built by a Prussian Army Officer by the name of Gustav Von Ohlafen. Mr Ohlaffen was the same person who built the Vaults (1881) located at Sanker’s Park in the Yarborough area.
5) The second Court House was eventually destroyed by fire on August 17th, 1918.
6) Governor Hart-Bennett died as consequence of the 1918 fire when the flag pole which was weaken by the fire, fell and hit him on his head. He died a month later from his injuries. He has been the only Governor, Lieutenant Governor and/or Superintendent who has died on the job. The governor was hosting a “White elephant sale” for the Red Cross at Governor’s House when the news of the fire came. He left the party to check out the fire.
On August 17th, 1918, a mammoth blaze completely destroyed the Courthouse, the Government Printing Office, the Southside Fire Station and the Post Office. This fire not only obliterated huge amounts of official records documenting the business of the Colony, it also resulted in the death of the new Governor, St. William Hart Bennett, when a fire-weakened flagpole toppled on his head while on his way to assess the damage. This particular fire is a significant event in Belize's history and forms a part of the socio-political tensions of the time. It occurred during the War years at a time when public disapproval of the British was at an all time high and racial tensions were still being played out. (Most of this is directly due to Governor William Collett whose 1913-1917 tenure was characterized by personally motivated racist acts and who often took offense at colored people who tried to rise above "their station in life". His undisguised racial discrimination was also copied by other members of his particular political administration, the worse being Col. Slack, a prominent lawyer and Commander of the Belize Defense Force. His mistreatment of blacks and creoles was so notorious that it eventually led to his own murder, which the Clarion described as "a foul deed that was indeed a brave act" ). Suspiciously, the fire destroyed mostly government buildings and much to the consternation of the colonial authorities and the dominant classes affected by the fire, hardly any of the onlookers bothered to assist in the fighting of the fire. Arson was suspected but never proven. Peter Ashdown writes in “The Growth of Black Consciousness in Belize: 1914-1919: The Background to the Ex-Servicemen's Riot of 1919" - "The Clarion agreed that the populace of the City had done little to save the government edifice. The general attitude had been "LET IT BURN", the fire brigade had been jeered and its hoses sabotaged and there had been some looting of deserted stores. Acting Governor Walter who witnessed these events believed there to be ‘a dangerous and ugly spirit broad’. “Things had reached a head by the following year when The BELIZE EXSERVICEMEN RIOT took place on July 22, 1919. (This paragraph courtesy
Suzette Zayden)
7) The current Court House, constructed from concrete, was built in 1926.
Do you know what is the connection between the Court House, Governor William M. Hart-Bennett and the Vaults at Yarborough?
The Court House you see today is not the original Court House, the original was built in 1818 and was rebuilt in 1880 by a Prussian military officer named Gustav Von Ohlafen. The building was a beautiful wooden structure, reminiscent of the colonial architecture of the time. The current building was constructed in the same design as the 1880's version, except in concrete.
Mr. Gustav Von Ohlafen was also the contractor for the infamous Vaults that was built in the Yarborough area (see picture). The Vaults structure was built in 1882 when the second Yarborough Cemetery reached capacity. The Vaults was Mr. Ohlafen's solution to the fact that the cemetery was in a low lying area and the coffins were submerged in water after interment. The Vaults has been the only failed attempt to bury the dead above ground. The Vault structure contained hundreds of apertures where the dead were and would be placed. It was closed in 1886 when the community complained that they could not endure the smell coming from the Vaults. One of the good things that came from the Vaults was that the residence of the area were able to survive the surging waters from the 1931 and 61 hurricanes by going on top of the structure.
Governor William M. Hart Bennett, CMG, was the 7th Governor of British Honduras from January, 29th,1918, to September 4th, 1918. His tenure was one of the shortest tenures of all the Governors due to an unexpected life ending event.
What connects all three is that the new Court House that was rebuilt by Mr. Gustav Von Ohlafen was burnt down on August 17, 1918. During that fire, Governor Hart-Bennett, who was directing the efforts to extinguish the fire, was struck by a falling flagpole from the Court House. He died from those injuries on September 4th, 1918.
The irony is that, Mr. Von Ohlafen, who built the Court House and the infamous Vaults, was the first person to be buried in the infamous Vault after his death.
THE FAMOUS COURT HOUSE WHARF and surroundings.
This is a sight filled with history. - - - A Book could be written of this site.
This sight was named, Court House WHARF, because it was the sight most convenient for Farmers to bring their products by boats and dorey.
This was the Supreme Court which burnt down in the year 1918.
The Flag Pole you see there by the Court House also caught fire and fell on Colonial Governor William Hart Bennet, killing him immediately..
The Scott's Kirk Church, on the right hand side, was totally demolished by a Sunken Iron Vat buried near Old City Hall. - - -This Sunken Iron Vat which was buried in the ground, was up rooted up, and FLOATED over the river into the Church Building. Some 20 persons died there.
The Field across the Supreme Court was the Battle Field, - Now Central Park.
The building far across the Church Tower was once, the Head Quarters of the Belize Military. ( and also served, as Post Office, and Magistrate Court.
In front of the Sea Shore you could buy wholesale, Fruits, Fire Wood, Charcoal, Bananas and Plantain, Sand and Botan Posts and Papta etc. Hector Silva