Iron County Courthouse (Michigan)

	Iron County Courthouse
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Michigan State Historic Site
	Interactive map showing the location of Iron County Courthouse
Location	West end of Superior Ave.], Crystal Falls, Michigan
Coordinates	46°5′48″N88°20′7″W / 46.09667°N 88.33528°W Coordinates: 46°5′48″N88°20′7″W / 46.09667°N 88.33528°W
Area	3 acres (1.2 ha)
Built	1890
Built by	Louis A. Webber
Architect	J.C. Clancey
Architectural style	Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	75000948
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 24, 1975
Designated MSHS	September 17, 1974

Last updated January 30, 2023

The Iron County Courthouse is a government building located at the west end of Superior Avenue in Crystal Falls, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975^[1] and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974.^[2]

History

Iron County was established in 1885, when it was split from Marquette County.^[3] At the time of Iron County's creation, Iron River, then the only incorporated village in the county, was designated the county seat.^[3] However, a bitter dispute over the location of county buildings immediately erupted between the geographically disparate east side, centered on Crystal Falls, and the west side, centered on Iron River. At one point county records were spirited away from the temporary courthouse in Iron River by men from Crystal Falls.^[4] It was eventually decided to hold a county-wide referendum on the issue. The vote was held in 1888 to decide the location of the county seat; Crystal Falls won by only 5 votes.^[4] In 1889, the question was again put before voters, and this time Crystal Falls was selected by a margin of nearly 100 votes,^[4] which settled the question.^[3]

Bonds were issued for $30,000 to fund courthouse construction,^[4] and architect J. C. Clancy of Antigo, Wisconsin was engaged to design the courthouse. It was constructed in 1890–1892 by Louis A. Webber of Menasha, Wisconsin,^[2] who bid $26,470.^[4] However, Webber was unable to complete the work, and the county hired another contractor to complete the courthouse, entailing a revised total cost of about $40,000.^[4]

The clocktower and statutes representing Law, Mercy, and Justice were added in 1910.^[5] A wing containing offices was added to the courthouse in 1955.^[5] In 2003–2004 another wing was added to the building.^[5] The project included a meticulous restoration of the original courthouse^[6] by sandblasting and repairing the brickwork.^[5]

Description

The Iron County Courthouse is a 2+1⁄2-story Richardsonian Romanesque building sitting on a hilltop overlooking Crystal Falls' business street.^[2] It is built with reddish brown brick walls with stone trim atop a rubble masonry foundation. The front facade has a conical tower on one corner and a square wooden^[5] tower topped by a belfry with hexagonal cupola on the other. A rock-face granite central archway contains the main entrance, which is approached via a stairway. Above the archway are the impressive 17-feet-high zinc statues representing Law, Mercy, and Justice.^[2]^[5]

Inside is a polished oak circuit courtroom.^[2] It has an octagonal ceiling covered with decorative pressed metal and a large chandelier with muses and dragons set into the center.^[5]^[6]

Related Research Articles

Iron County is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 11,631. The county seat is Crystal Falls.

The following is a list of Registered Historic Places in Iron County, Michigan. The list includes 79 structures and historic districts that are significant for their architectural, historical, or industrial/economic importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M-69 (Michigan highway)</span> State highway in Michigan, United States

M-69 is an east–west state trunkline highway in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of the U.S. state of Michigan. It connects with US Highway 2 (US 2) on both ends in Crystal Falls and near Bark River. In between, the highway runs for 65.26 miles (105.03 km) in rural UP forest lands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodbury County Courthouse</span> United States historic place

The Woodbury County Courthouse is located at 620 Douglas Street in Sioux City, the county seat of Woodbury County, Iowa, United States. It is regarded as "one of the finest Prairie School buildings in the United States" and has been declared a National Historic Landmark for its architecture. It is used for legal proceedings in the county.

US Highway 2 (US 2) is a component of the United States Numbered Highway System that connects Everett, Washington, to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of the US state of Michigan, with a separate segment that runs from Rouses Point, New York, to Houlton, Maine. In Michigan, the highway runs through the UP in two segments as a part of the state trunkline highway system, entering the state at Ironwood and ending at St. Ignace; in between, US 2 briefly traverses the state of Wisconsin. As one of the major transportation arteries in the UP, US 2 is a major conduit for traffic through the state and neighboring northern Midwest states. Two sections of the roadway are included as part of the Great Lakes Circle Tours, and other segments are listed as state-designated Pure Michigan Byways. There are several memorial highway designations and historic bridges along US 2 that date to the 1910s and 1920s. The highway runs through rural sections of the UP, passing through two national and two state forests in the process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackson County Courthouse (Bellevue, Iowa)</span> United States historic place

The Jackson County Courthouse, also known as Old Jackson County Courthouse or Bellevue Elementary School, is a historic building and former courthouse for Jackson County, Iowa, United States. It is located in Bellevue and was built in the vernacular Greek Revival style in 1845. It currently serves as a portion of Bellevue Elementary School, the oldest functioning school in the state of Iowa.

The Old Warren County Courthouse Complex is located at the corner of Amherst and Canada streets in Lake George, New York, United States. It is a large brick building erected in five stages from the 1840s to the 1890s. Not all of the stages built are extant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dickinson County Courthouse and Jail</span> United States historic place

The Dickinson County Courthouse and Jail is an historic complex of governmental buildings located at 700 South Stephenson Avenue in Iron Mountain, Michigan. On May 15, 1980, the complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Lenawee County Courthouse is a county courthouse located at 309 North Main Street (M-52) in the city of Adrian in central Lenawee County, Michigan. It was designated as a Michigan Historic Site on November 14, 1974 and later added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 28, 1991. The Lenawee County Courthouse is located at the corner of M-52 and West Front Street. West Front Street also carries the M-52 signage as it turns to form the northern edge of the U.S. Route 223 business loop around the Downtown Adrian Commercial Historic District.

The Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa, United States was built from 1955 to 1956 and extensively renovated over a ten-year period between 1998 and 2009. It is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration. It is part of a larger county complex that includes the county jail, administration building and juvenile detention facility. In 2020 the courthouse was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Houghton County Courthouse is a government building located at 401 E. Houghton Street in Houghton, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The Iron County MRA is a Multiple Resource Area addition to the National Register of Historic Places, which includes 72 separate structures and historic districts within Iron County, Michigan, United States of America. These properties were identified and placed on the Register in 1983, with the exception of one property that was placed on the Register in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chippewa County Courthouse</span> United States historic place

The Chippewa County Courthouse is a government building located on Court Street in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It is one of the oldest courthouses still in use in Michigan.

The Shiawassee County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Corunna, the county seat of Shiawassee County, Michigan. It is a Michigan State Historic Site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built from 1903 through 1904, it was designed by Claire Allen in the Classical Revival style. The building continues its original function of housing county offices and is an active courthouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Buren County Courthouse (Michigan)</span> United States historic place

The Van Buren County Courthouse is a government building located at 212 East Paw Paw Street in Paw Paw, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1977 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The Hillsdale County Courthouse is a government building located at 29 North Howell Street in Hillsdale, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1969 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The Gratiot County Courthouse is a government building located at 214 East Center Street in Ithaca, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1957 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Minnehaha County Courthouse</span> United States historic place

The Old Minnehaha County Courthouse, located at Main Avenue and 6th Street in Sioux Falls, is the former county courthouse of Minnehaha County, South Dakota.

The Rockingham County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Wentworth, Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was designed by Frank P. Milburn and built in 1907. It is a Classical Revival style red brick building that consists of a three-story hipped roofed main block flanked by later added two-story flat roofed wings. It features a low and broad polygonal cupola atop the Spanish red tile roof. The 1907 courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, now houses the Museum and Archives of Rockingham County.

The Clark County Courthouse is a government building in Marshall, the county seat of Clark County, Illinois, United States. Completed in 1903, it is the fifth courthouse in the third community in Clark County's history.

References

1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "Iron County Courthouse". Historic Sites Online. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
1 2 3 Stewart, David K.; Farley, Catharine J. (October 28, 1983). "Historic Resources of Iron County, Michigan: Partial Inventory-- Historic and Architectural Resources".
1 2 3 4 5 6 "Courthouse". Crystal Falls. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fedynsky, John (2010), Michigan's County Courthouses, University of Michigan Press, pp. 80–81, ISBN 978-0-472-11728-4
1 2 "Iron County Courthouse". Hunt's Guide to the Upper Peninsula. Retrieved January 26, 2012.

External links

Media related to Iron County Courthouse (Michigan) at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nris-1] 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[state-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Iron County Courthouse". Historic Sites Online. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2010.

[sub-3] 1 2 3 Stewart, David K.; Farley, Catharine J. (October 28, 1983). "Historic Resources of Iron County, Michigan: Partial Inventory-- Historic and Architectural Resources".

[courthouse-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Courthouse". Crystal Falls. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.

[michcourt-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fedynsky, John (2010), Michigan's County Courthouses, University of Michigan Press, pp. 80–81, ISBN 978-0-472-11728-4

[hunts-6] 1 2 "Iron County Courthouse". Hunt's Guide to the Upper Peninsula. Retrieved January 26, 2012.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]