Marquette County Courthouse
About this property
The Marquette County Courthouse, a government building located at 234 West Baraga Ave in Marquette, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1976 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The courthouse served as the setting for the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger. In 1857, the first Marquette County Courthouse, a wooden Greek Revival structure, was built on this site. By the turn of the century, this structure had become inadequate. In 1902, voters approved the issuance of $120,000 in bonds to fund the construction of a new courthouse. The earlier structure was relocated off the site, and the county commissioned Marquette architect D. Fred Charlton (of Charlton, Gilbert & Demar and Charlton & Kuenzl) to design the new building. Northern Construction Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was hired to construct the building. The county ultimately spent $240,000 to complete the structure, which was completed in 1904. The courthouse was the site of a famous 1913 libel case, where President Theodore Roosevelt won a judgment against Ishpeming newspaper publisher George Newett. Roosevelt was awarded six cents, "the price of a good newspaper." Another later case tried here inspired John D. Voelker's novel, Anatomy of a Murder. The 1959 movie version of the novel, directed by Otto Preminger, was filmed in the courthouse. In 1982–84, the courthouse was renovated at a cost of $2.4 million. A new courthouse and jail were built nearby, connected by a tunnel, but the 1904 building remains in use. The Marquette County Courthouse is a Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical structure, with a central three-story mass flanked by two-story wings. It is built almost entirely of local sandstone over a steel frame. A colossal portico covers the entrance, lined with 23-foot (7.0 m) granite Doric columns from Maine. A Doric entablature with copper cornice rings the roofline. A copper dome surmounts the building, and sits above the second-floor courtroom. Inside, the courtroom is finished with mahogany and marble. Mosaic tiles, wool carpeting, and stained glass fill the building.
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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 Marquette County Courthouse
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Questions about this property
When was Marquette County Courthouse listed on the National Register?
Marquette County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 28, 1978.
What type of historic resource is Marquette County Courthouse?
Marquette County Courthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Marquette County Courthouse?
The period of significance for Marquette County Courthouse is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Marquette 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 Marquette County Courthouse will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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