The Keokuk County Courthouse located in

Sigourney, Iowa Sigourney ( ) is a city in Keokuk County, Iowa, Keokuk County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,004 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Keokuk County, Iowa, Keokuk County. Keokuk County Court ...

, United States, was built in 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 v ...

in 1981 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. In 1999 it was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the Public Square Historic District. The courthouse is the fourth building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

History

Keokuk County Keokuk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 10,033. The county seat is Sigourney. History Keokuk County was formed in 1837. It was named for the eponymous chief of the Sa ...

built its first courthouse in Sigourney in 1845 for $218. The building, which was constructed of logs, also housed the jail and served as a schoolhouse, public hall, and hotel. Lancaster became the

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 the late 1840s and a two-story frame courthouse was built there in 1848 for $699. By the mid-1850s the county seat was back in Sigourney. A new courthouse was built in 1858 for $17,200. It was remodeled over the years until the present courthouse was begun in 1909. It was completed two years later at a cost of $150,000.

Architecture

The building was designed 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 ...

style by the

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

architectural firm Wetherell & Gage, and built by J.L Simmons. The

Columbian Exposition of 1893 The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

influenced the design of the building. The Bedford limestone structure rests on a raised basement level. Each facade features a frontispiece with large

engaged columns In architecture, an engaged column is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi- or three-quarter detached. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then ...

in the

Ionic order 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 or ...

that are set ''

in antis An anta (pl. antæ, antae, or antas; Latin, possibly from ''ante'', "before" or "in front of"), or sometimes parastas (pl. parastades), is an architectural term describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of a Greek ...

'' above first floor level. with It is capped by a clock tower and

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, from ...

. Other historic structures on the courthouse square include a fountain, bandstand, and a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Monument. The significance of the courthouse is derived from its association with county government, and the political power and prestige of Sigourney as the

References

External links

{{NRHP in Keokuk County, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1911 Sigourney, Iowa Neoclassical architecture in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Keokuk County, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa County courthouses in Iowa Clock towers in Iowa 1911 establishments in Iowa