HISTORIC REFLECTION … April 19, 1841: The first session of Williams County Court of Common Pleas was held in Bryan. From 1820 to 1840, Defiance served as the Wil-liams County seat. In 1840, Bryan was designated the new county seat. In late 1840 or early 1841, a two-story log courthouse was constructed southeast of the intersection of Main and Mulberry streets in Bryan. Court was held on the ground floor; according to early pioneers, the upper story was never used. The first term of Williams County Common Pleas Court held in Bryan convened in the building on April 19, 1841, with Judge Emery D. Potter of Toledo presiding. The log courthouse was used until a more permanent structure was completed on the square circa 1845-46. This portrait of Judge Emery D. Potter is from the 1877 History of the Mau-mee Valley by H.S. Knapp.
