The Butler County Courthouse is a public

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

constructed in 1909,Sachs, David SH. And George Ehrlich, ‘’Guide to Architecture of Kansas, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, Kansas, 1996 p. 211 in

El Dorado, Kansas El Dorado ( ) is city and county seat of Butler County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County and located in south-central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city ...

. It was designed by

George P. Washburn George Putnam Washburn (March 21, 1846 – May 16, 1922) was a prominent architect practicing in Kansas. Washburn came to Kansas in 1870, worked as a carpenter and architect, and in 1882 opened an architecture practice in Ottawa, Kansas. His son ...

& Sons to serve as the main county courthouse for Butler County. The Romanesque Revival courthouse was typical of Washburn's courthouse designs; of the eleven surviving courthouses designed by the architect, nine are Romanesque. The red brick courthouse features a central

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

and four octagonal corner towers, a statue of the Goddess of Justice, and a hipped roof with cross gables, all common features of Washburn's work. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Butler County was organized on February 11, 1859. The County Clerk has land records from 1887 and birth and death records from 1887 to 1911. The courthouse is still in operation as such. Self-guided tours are also available during normal working hours.

Gallery

File:Justice.jpg, Goddess of Justice, Butler County Courthouse, El Dorado, Kansas File:Central Clock Tower.jpg, Central Clock Tower, Butler County Courthouse, El Dorado, Kansas

References

Government buildings completed in 1908 Buildings and structures in Butler County, Kansas Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas County courthouses in Kansas El Dorado, Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Butler County, Kansas 1908 establishments in Kansas {{Kansas-NRHP-stub

See also

Gallery

References