The Cimarron County Courthouse is the historic

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 ...

serving

Cimarron County Cimarron County is the westernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its county seat is Boise City, Oklahoma, Boise City. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,296, making it the leas ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, located in Boise City. The courthouse was designed by M.C. Parker in the

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

and Neoclassical styles and built in red brick by Strong & Froman. The building opened in 1926 after the previous wood-frame courthouse burned down. The courthouse is surrounded by a traffic circle that has several highways in a unique example of concurrency, including US-56, US-64,

US-287 U.S. Route 287 (US 287) is a north–south (physically northwest–southeast) United States highway. At long, it is the second longest three-digit U.S. Route, behind US 281. It serves as the major truck route between Fort Worth and Ama ...

, US-385, US-412, State Highway 3, and SH-325. The highways lead to different locations including north to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, northeast to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, west to

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, and southwest to the

Texas Panhandle The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...

. On August 23, 1984, the courthouse was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. In 1943, an

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

training mission accidentally bombed the courthouse. The training unit, which mistook the courthouse for its intended target, dropped six practice bombs near the building. All but one of the bombs exploded, though they did little damage as they were made of dynamite and sand; the city preserved the unexploded bomb. Boise City was once thought to be the only U.S. city bombed by its own military, though similar incidents have since been discovered.

References

External links

* Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Courthouses in Oklahoma Neoclassical architecture in Oklahoma Government buildings completed in 1926 Buildings and structures in Cimarron County, Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Cimarron County, Oklahoma 1926 establishments in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-NRHP-stub