The State - News from May 13, 1988

California’s oldest courthouse in continuous use, with a fresh coat of paint and strengthened against earthquakes, was rededicated. Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy swore in new Mariposa County Superior Court Judge Richard L. McNechan, and then praised the $190,000 restoration project. McCarthy said the courthouse is a symbol of the rule of law. “We are not just rededicating a courthouse today,” he said. “We are rededicating a symbol. . . .” In 134 years of use, the courthouse “has probably seen more of the pageant of California than any other building,” McCarthy said. The restoration project was overseen by Bob McCabe of Sacramento, who has done considerable restoration work in Sacramento. Included in the refurbishings is a new modesty panel constructed for the witness stand in the building’s one courtroom. The courtroom still contains a wood-backed, rolling judge’s chair more than a century old.