The Jasper County Courthouse is located in

Newton, Iowa Newton is the county seat of, and most populous city in, Jasper County, Iowa, United States. Located east of Des Moines, Newton is in Central Iowa. As of the 2020 Census, the city population was 15,760. It is the home of Iowa Speedway, Maytag Da ...

, United States, and was built from 1909 to 1911. It was individually listed on 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 ...

in 1981. In 2014 it was included as a contributing property in the Newton Downtown Historic District.

History

Court was first held in Jasper County in 1846 in a one-room addition to the log cabin of Matthew D. Springer. The first courthouse was built of lumber in 1847; it was and cost a total of $87.50. That courthouse was later moved to a farm near Newton. A second courthouse was a brick structure that was faced with

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 ...

and built in 1857 at a total cost of $26,600. Its basement was

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

. The building featured porticos that extended from the building that were held up by

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

. 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 ...

that rose above the ground.

Current courthouse

The third and current courthouse was dedicated in 1911. The simplified version of the Beaux Arts style was designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot & Bird. with It is built of

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

except for the doors and window casings which are wooden. American general and Iowa politician James B. Weaver wrote of the current courthouse in the 1912 county history, "long after the pages of this county history are worn and turned yellow with age, in all human probability this building will stand in all its massive beauty". The Jasper County Medical Society held their annual meetings at the courthouse. The courthouse measures with a clock tower that rises . The clock was created with the help of private donations, and its faces are set into the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

s around the tower. The interior has ceramic tile and marble, and freestanding column screens divide the hallways from the rotunda. The outside of the building is decorated during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

season. There was a renovation of the courthouse in 1986 that fixed the interior and involved the dome and paintings. Then-governor of Iowa

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is an American politician and former diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979 before serving as governor of Iowa f ...

visited the courthouse for its 100th anniversary on July 4, 2011. The significance of the courthouse is derived from its association with county government, and the political power and prestige of Newton as the county seat.

References

{{NRHP in Jasper County, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1911 Newton, Iowa Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa County courthouses in Iowa Beaux-Arts architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Jasper County, Iowa Clock towers in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Jasper County, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa