Brown County Courthouse
About this property
The Brown County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Aberdeen, the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota. It was built in 1904 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Columbia, South Dakota, was the site of Brown County's first courthouse until 1887 when Aberdeen became the county seat. A dispute followed, and the county seat moved back to Columbia from November 1889 until 1890, after which Aberdeen permanently became the county seat. After becoming the county seat, a wood frame courthouse building was built in Aberdeen. Work on a new courthouse in Aberdeen began by 1902, designed by architects Frank W. Kinney and Menno S. Detweiler. It was built by E. Miller of Le Mars, Iowa, and completed in 1904 at a cost of around $120,000. Two half blocks of land were donated by several property owners and a street was removed for the courthouse site. The courthouse was formally dedicated on March 15, 1904. The old courthouse was demolished in 1905 and the site was turned into a park. In 1974, the sandstone stairway that led to the second floor entrance was removed to improve accessibility; it was replaced by a plate glass entrance on the first floor. The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1976. In 2014, after suffering deterioration, the stained glass window around the old entrance was removed, cleaned, and reinstalled. The courthouse is a three-story building in the Renaissance Revival style. The building is made of Berea Sandstone that was quarried near Cleveland, Ohio. The front facade faces south and is divided into thirteen bays. The entrance is flanked by two 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) Corinthian columns made of Ortonville granite. The original second-floor entrance is encircled by a two-story-tall arch of stained glass. The building is topped by a dome with four clocks facing each of north, south, east and west. On top of the dome is a copper statue of Justice. The courthouse originally stood alone on the block; later on an addition was built at the southwest corner for more offices and a jail was built at the southeast corner. National Register of Historic Places listings in Brown County, South Dakota List of courthouses in the United States § South Dakota Media related to Brown County Courthouse (South Dakota) at Wikimedia Commons
Location
Categories
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 Brown County Courthouse
This page lists Brown County Courthouse. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Brown County Courthouse listed on the National Register?
Brown County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1976.
What type of historic resource is Brown County Courthouse?
Brown County Courthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Brown County Courthouse?
The period of significance for Brown County Courthouse is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Brown 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 Brown County Courthouse will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in Brown County
Historic places, battles, and census history across Brown County.
Explore BrownCounty ›More historic places in South Dakota
Browse all historic places in South Dakota.
View South Dakotahistoric sites ›South Dakota history
Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.
South Dakotahistory ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Brown County Courthouse will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.