PLYMOUTH - The new courthouse on Obery Street is not dedicated to anybody in particular. But the stamp of one person is all over the place.

Dignitaries, including the governor and chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court pointed to Senate President Therese Murray this week in bringing the decades-long project to fruition.

“I know we’re not supposed to talk about naming the building yet, but those of you who know what the Senate President’s like when she sets her mind to something – she will achieve it,” Gov. Deval Patrick said.

“It’s a testament to her vision and persistence. No one deserves greater credit,” Chief Justice Margaret Marshall said.

Patrick and Marshall were among the featured guests at ceremonies marking the opening of the Plymouth Trial Court. The newest of the state’s 110 courthouses opened gradually, department by department, last month. Dignitaries formalized the project’s completion Monday.

“Is everybody happy?” Justice Robert Mulligan, chief justice of administration and management for the trial courts, asked the hundreds assembled outside the courthouse to cheers and applause.

The trial court brings together Superior Court, District Court, Juvenile Court, Family and Probate Court and a law library under one roof in a state-of-the art facility on land donated by Plymouth County. It replaces the 187-year-old courthouse on Court Street.

Patrick joked that the new courthouse project had been in the works long before he ever dreamed of running for office. Workers in the old courthouse can remember hearing talk about the new courthouse when they started on the job in the 1970s.

Murray started advocating for the courthouse when she was first elected in the early 1990s. She remembers workers suffering through winters without heat and summers without air conditioning as the 1820 building literally crumbled about them.

“It’s been several years, five governors, four chief justices, two sites, two designs and two groundbreakings. With patience and perseverance we were able to get to this day,” Murray said.

State Rep. Vinny deMacedo congratulated Murray on completing the project, but suggested it involved more tenacity than patience. “It was a long and arduous project, but she never wavered,” he said.

The Plymouth new trial courthouse features three floors of courtrooms and accessibility not available on Court Street. The courthouse is not named for anyone but two courtrooms have been dedicated to former judges – Family and Probate Judge James Lawton and District Court Judge George White.

White, a Plymouth resident, presided over the District Court from 1962 to 1986. A plaque with his picture and dates of service graces the wall outside Courtroom B. Family members said White would have been impressed by the tribute. “He always liked to entertain,” Dennis White said.

Murray, on her first tour of the completed building, later declared the courthouse worth the wait.
She pledged to make sure the old courthouse gets a suitable tenant and that the downtown area maintains its vitality.

The $70 million courthouse includes 10 courtrooms, secure lock-up facilities and a new law library. It was built by Gilbane Inc. of Providence, R.I. The courthouse serves the towns of Duxbury, Halifax, Hanson, Kingston, Marshfield, Pembroke, Plymouth and Plympton.