On November 7, 1882, the Griggs County Board of Commissioners voted to locate the county seat on one of Cooper's properties in Cooperstown. Prior to this, the county records were housed in Hope, North Dakota. The residents of Hope were determined that the county seat be located in their town and refused to surrender the records to Cooperstown. The County Commissioners forcibly removed the records by their next meeting on November 18. Sometime the following month, an armed party from Hope overpowered three guards in the new county office and returned the records to their town. In early 1883, the North Dakota Territorial Legislature created Steele County with Hope serving as the new county's seat. Hope returned Griggs County's record to Cooperstown after an election on June 2, 1883. The Griggs County Courthouse was built in 1884.
