First Wexford County Courthouse

Wexford County was organized in 1869. The law organizing the county also specified that the county seat should be located “at or near what is called Manistee Bridge,” where the Newaygo and Northport State Road crossed the Manistee River. In 1870 the village of Sherman was platted just south of the bridge. The first county courthouse, completed in 1872, was located about two hundred feet west of this marker. After a heated controversy, the county offices were transferred in 1880 to Manton, a small town in the eastern part of the county. The dispute was finally settled in 1882 when Cadillac was chosen as the county seat of Wexford County. The old courthouse in Sherman was used as a school until 1937.