By Nick Reid
Hampton Union, March 15, 2013
[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]
The verdict is in: the old Hampton District Court has been sentenced to death.
Voters called for the demolition of Hampton's 140-year-old courthouse by a vote of 1,692 to 648. Article 13 isn't a big-ticket item — it'll cost voters just $32,300 — but it has stirred up some controversy. To call it a courthouse omits much of the building's long history, which includes stints as Hampton's public kindergarten, American Legion Post No. 35 hall and Fire Station 2. More recently, it's been vacant since 2005, when the state relocated the court due to the building's poor condition.
The courthouse's supporters said it deserves to be renovated, but they were outnumbered by the group that said it's time for the courthouse to be destroyed and for the town to make better use of that space.