Premier Pat Binns unveiled a plaque at the Kings County Courthouse today that permanently dedicates the historic structure to the memory and legacy of Alexander Wallace Matheson. Members of the Matheson family were on hand at the dedication ceremony.
Matheson's public service spanned the better part of four decades as a Minister of the Executive Council, Premier and County Court Judge.
"I can identify readily with some of the initiatives of Premier Matheson's government, particularly those which involved the modernizing of our rural communities so that they too could take advantage of economic and social opportunities," said Premier Binns.
Alexander W. Matheson was the twenty-first post-confederation Premier of Prince Edward Island. Matheson was born on June 11, 1903, at Bellevue, Prince Edward Island. He first entered the political arena during the administration of Premier Thane Campbell. He was elected as a representative of the Liberal Party in a by-election held in November 1940 in the 2nd District of Queens. After a hiatus from political life, he was subsequently reelected in 1951, 1955, 1959, and 1962.
Upon Premier Walter Jones' appointment to the Canadian Senate in 1953, Alexander W. Matheson was sworn in as Premier of Prince Edward Island. He remained Premier and Attorney-General until 1959. Matheson sat as a member of the Legislative Assembly until 1965 and was appointed as a County Court Judge in 1967.
The Alexander W. Matheson Building, known before today as the Kings County Courthouse, was designed by architect William Critchlow Harris and built in Georgetown in 1887.
In a 1998 paper, Canon Robert Tuck wrote, "The Kings County Court House in Georgetown is one of the premier historical and architectural treasures of the Province of Prince Edward Island." It stands as, "the finest example of Romanesque Revival Style architecture to be found in Prince Edward Island."
Although the courthouse has been renovated and remodelled several times, it has continued to serve the judicial purposes for which it was built.