The election for Councilmen was held on the third Monday in March, 1851, and at the meeting, held on the first day of April, Messrs. Thomas B. Barton, John James Chew, J. Minor, Wm. Allen and Beverly R. Wellford were appointed a committee by the Council to consider the subject of the location and erection of a new courthouse and report thereon all matters connected with the cost, style and site of said building. The next meeting of the Council was held on the 26th of April. It was one of unusual importance, because the committee on the new courthouse was to report, and every member except two was in his seat, and the chamber was crowded to its full capacity by citizens, who felt a special interest in the subject. The committee was in favor of erecting a new courthouse, and therefore reported to the Council plans and specifications for the building, drawn by J. B. Benwick, Jr., of Baltimore, giving the style and the probable cost at $14,000. The committee recommended the site of the old courthouse, the removal of the jail to the back of the new building and the removal of the clerk's office and engine houses. The report was adopted and the committee was instructed to contract for the erection of the building inside of the estimated cost. This looked as if the Council meant business, and for the next three weeks the question was warmly discussed, and the opponents of the measure undertook to prevent the great waste of money, as they termed it, by petition and other influences. The Council met on the 21st of May to receive the report of the committee, appointed to contract for the building, and every member was present. The interest was intense and the opposition determined. The committee made its report and the clerk of the Council made this record: "A contract with Wm. M. Baggett, for building a new courthouse, jail, &c., for the sum of $13,850, together with drawings and specifications of said buildings made by James Benwick, architect, and to be taken as part of said contract, and a bond executed by said Baggett, J. Metcalfe, J. S. Caldwell, and George Aler, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of said contract, by said Baggett, were submitted to the Council by T. B. Barton, chairman of the committee appointed for that purpose, for their approval or rejection. "Whereupon, and before any action was had thereon, Mr. J. M. Whittemore, asked and obtained leave to be heard by the Council in support of a petition, signed by one hundred and seventy-two of the voters of the corporation, remonstrating against the extravagant scheme of pulling down the jail and other buildings on the courthouse lot, and praying the appointment of a committee of their own board,[56] to contract for the erection of a spacious and comfortable courthouse at a cost not exceeding six thousand dollars. Said petition was accordingly presented by Mr. Whittemore, and, being read, was, on motion, laid on the table.