The Carroll County Courthouse is located in

Carroll, Iowa Carroll is a city in, and the county seat of, Carroll County, Iowa, United States, along the Middle Raccoon River. The population was 10,321 in the 2020 census. History Carroll was laid out in 1867. It took its name from Carroll County, which ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The current structure is the fourth courthouse to house court functions and county administration.

History

The first

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

in Carroll County was the village of Carrollton. The courthouse there was begun in 1858 and required two contractors to complete it as the first died before the building was completed. A second story was added to the building in 1865. The county seat was moved to the city of Carroll in 1868 and a former railroad station was rented for county use. A $4,000 courthouse was built upon the square the railroad sold the county for a dollar in 1869. It was destroyed in a fire in the spring of 1886. In the interim, county offices were moved to the Joyce Lumber Company office building and court sessions were held in a music hall. A new Victorian courthouse was completed in 1887. The

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

building featured a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

with a clock. The present three-story

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

structure was completed in 1965 for $750,000. Its parking lot is the location of the old courthouse, which was torn down after the present building was completed.

References

Government buildings completed in 1965 Modernist architecture in Iowa County courthouses in Iowa Buildings and structures in Carroll County, Iowa Carroll, Iowa {{Iowa-struct-stub