Shiawassee County Courthouse

	Shiawassee County Courthouse
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Michigan State Historic Site
	Courthouse at night in 2009; the MSHS marker is visible at center-bottom
Location	218 N Shiawassee Avenue,; Corunna, Michigan
Built	1903–1904
Architect	Claire Allen
NRHP reference #	82000546 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 12, 1982
Designated MSHS	November 14, 1974

Last updated September 10, 2019

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.

Corunna is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,497 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Shiawassee County. The city is located within Caledonia Charter Township, although it is an independent political entity.

A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in Canada, China, Romania, Taiwan and the United States. County towns have a similar function in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and historically in Jamaica.

Shiawassee is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 70,648. The county seat is Corunna, and the largest city in the county is Owosso. In 2010, the center of population of Michigan was located in Shiawassee County, in Bennington Township.

History

Shiawassee County was established in 1822 by Lewis Cass, governor of Michigan Territory. Due to its low population, it was not until 1837 that a county government was organized. In 1839, the Shiawassee County Seat Company donated a piece of land to the county which was designated as a public square. Temporary facilities held county offices on the square until the construction of a brick courthouse in 1851. A new courthouse, designed by Claire Allen, was built from 1903 through 1904 at the square, with the cornerstone laid on May 4, 1904. The project cost $75,000.^[2]

Lewis Cass was an American military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the United States Senate and served in the Cabinets of two U.S. Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 1848 Democratic presidential nominee and a leading spokesman for the Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which held that the people in each territory should decide whether to permit slavery.

Michigan Territory territory of the USA between 1805-1837

The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit was the territorial capital.

Claire Allen was an American architect prominent in southern Michigan in the early twentieth century, and best known for designing several county courthouses. He was considered a "master regional architect".

The courthouse was designated a Michigan State Historic Site on November 14, 1974, and an informational marker was erected on December 31, 1974.^[2] The building was renovated in 1981.^[3] On November 12, 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[2] Further renovation work took place from 2009 through 2010, with the primary goal of increasing security. Begun in September 2009, the $424,000 project reduced the number of entrances and added metal detectors and an elevator. The work was cognizant of the building's history, keeping renovations in line with the structure's original appearance.^[3] The building continues to house most county offices and is still an active courthouse.^[2]^[3]

Architecture

The building is a three-story structure built of Bedford Limestone in the Classical Revival style. The front face is visually divided into five bays. The lower two levels have a rusticated facade. In the center of the front face is a projecting portico with a column-supported pediment. The structure has a hipped roof, on top of which is an elaborately decorated three-tiered clock tower with a tile roof.^[2]

Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone — is a common regional term for Salem limestone, a geological formation primarily quarried in south central Indiana, United States, between the cities of Bloomington and Bedford.

In architecture, a bay is the space between architectural elements, or a recess or compartment. Bay comes from Old French baee, meaning an opening or hole.

In classical architecture rustication is a range of masonry techniques giving visible surfaces a finish that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared-block masonry surfaces called ashlar. The visible face of each individual block is cut back around the edges to make its size and placing very clear. In addition the central part of the face of each block may be given a deliberately rough or patterned surface.

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References

↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
1 2 3 4 5 Staff. "Shiawassee County Courthouse". State Historic Preservation Office. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2013.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
1 2 3 Morrison, Julie (January 27, 2009). "Renovation of Shiawassee County Courthouse modernizes building while safeguarding historic feel". The Flint Journal . Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2013.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)

External links

Media related to Shiawassee County Courthouse at Wikimedia Commons

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[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

[mich-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Staff. "Shiawassee County Courthouse". State Historic Preservation Office. Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2013.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)

[renovation-3] 1 2 3 Morrison, Julie (January 27, 2009). "Renovation of Shiawassee County Courthouse modernizes building while safeguarding historic feel". The Flint Journal . Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2013.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)