About this property
Alpine County Courthouse is a building built in 1928 in Markleeville, California. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. It houses the Superior Court of California, County of Alpine, informally the Alpine County Superior Court, the California superior court with jurisdiction over Alpine County. Alpine is the smallest county in California by population. Alpine County was formed in 1864 following the Comstock Lode discovery, partitioned from neighboring Amador, El Dorado, Calaveras, Mono, and Tuolumne counties. At the time of the county's formation, Silver Mountain City was the county seat and most populated town, but the mines were shuttered and Silver Mountain City was abandoned soon after Congress demonetized silver in 1873. The county seat was moved to Markleeville in 1874. Court was held in the Markleeville Odd Fellows Hall starting in 1875, with prisoners held in the Old Log Jail. The cornerstone of the courthouse was laid in June 1928. The courthouse opened in September of the same year. The cost of building the structure was $75,000. Over the years, the courthouse served as the superior and municipal court for Alpine County, the district attorney's office, the sheriff's office, and the probation department. The current Alpine County Courthouse was originally completed in 1928 to serve as the firehouse and one-engine garage. It was designed by Frederick J. DeLongchamps and built from locally quarried rhyolite tuff blocks, quarried above nearby Silver Mountain City, in the Romanesque Revival style. Other stone used in the structure was taken from the ruins of the jail of Silver Creek in Plumas County. The building was originally intended to be a two-story structure but financial considerations limited it to one story; residents had passed a US$18,000 (equivalent to $330,000 in 2025) bond issue in 1927 to fund construction. In 1948 the basement of the courthouse was remodeled to provide additional storage space. The remodeling was overseen by Fenwick Irwin. In 1987, footage from the CBS show High Mountain Rangers was shot at the courthouse. The 1928 courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Funding was authorized for a new Alpine County Courthouse in 2008 via California Senate Bill 1407, but plans were canceled in December 2011. McDevitt, Ray; Ronald M. George, retired Chief Justice of California (Forward) (2001). Courthouses of California: an Illustrated History. Berkeley, CA: California Historical Society. p. 365. ISBN 1-890771-49-X.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Alpine County Courthouse
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Questions about this property
When was Alpine County Courthouse listed on the National Register?
Alpine County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 29, 2004.
What type of historic resource is Alpine County Courthouse?
Alpine County Courthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Alpine County Courthouse?
The period of significance for Alpine County Courthouse is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1928.
Can I research the history near Alpine County Courthouse?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Alpine County Courthouse will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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