White Pine County Courthouse

About this property

The White Pine County Courthouse was built in 1908 in Ely, Nevada, located in White Pine County. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. By 2017, the county had begun plans to construct a new courthouse because of security concerns with the current one. A new courthouse began construction in 2019; after completion, the old courthouse was expected to be converted into county administrative offices. Several earlier proposals had been made for a new courthouse. The two-story Italianate building, made of stone, is crowned by a small copper-domed cupola. The building is sited on a hilltop near the commercial section of Ely, with the city's middle school, library, senior citizen center, several houses, and a park in close proximity. A World War I memorial plaque is located in front of the courthouse, and lists 35 White Pine County residents who died during the war. The courthouse was built in 1908, and replaced a temporary wood frame courthouse that itself replaced a structure that burned in 1885 in the former county seat of Hamilton. A copper boom allowed the county to invest in the present substantial two-story structure, designed by George T. Beardslee and built by R.E. Dodson and G.W. Weller for $49,688. A two-story jail was added to the rear in 1925. The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 11, 1986. A seating area was added outside the courthouse in 2004. By June 2005, the building had received new paint and carpeting. By the mid-1960s, the jail and a sheriff's office located inside the courthouse were deemed as no longer secure. A new courthouse was proposed in 1966, as part of a civic complex that would include other buildings. As of 1967, the county commission favored a new courthouse complex, but the project did not materialize because of concerns about square footage and construction costs. A structure known as the Public Safety building was later opened elsewhere in Ely in 1976, to house the jail and sheriff facilities. In 2005, a funding bill to construct a new $11 million judicial facility was rejected by the Nevada Legislature. In September 2006, the county commission voted unanimously to spend $100,000 to $120,000 to hire two bailiffs for the courthouse, a recommendation that came from Seventh Judicial Judge Dan L. Papez, who worked in the building. Prior to that time, deputies from the county police department worked as bailiffs during trials and were also supposed to visit the courthouse twice on days when trials were not being held. However, because of other duties, deputies did not always have time to visit the courthouse.

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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.

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