The Lucas County Courthouse located in

Chariton, Iowa Chariton is a city in, and the county seat of, Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,193 at the 2020 census. Lucas is the primary distribution center for and the former corporate headquarters of the Hy-Vee supermarket chain. H ...

, United States, was built in 1893. It was 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 2014 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 Lucas County Courthouse Square Historic District. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

History

Lucas County's first courthouse was constructed of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

logs in 1850. The 1½-story building was built for $374, and paid for from the Chariton town lot fund. It measured and lime and sand filled the space between the logs. The second courthouse was a building that cost between $15,000 and $20,000 to build. Its foundation was made of logs. After ten years multiple cracks appeared in the logs and Judge Guard ordered the sheriff to secure a church for court proceedings. As the building did not collapse, court returned to the courthouse for several more years. The present courthouse was approved by county voters in 1885. It was completed in 1894, and the clock in the tower has been in operation since then.

Architecture

The courthouse was built of rusticated

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) ...

in the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

style. with It was designed 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 of

Foster & Liebbe Foster may refer to: People * Foster (surname) * Foster Brooks (1912–2001), American actor * Foster Moreau (born 1997), American football player * Foster Sarell (born 1998), American football player * John Foster Dulles (1888–1959), Americ ...

, and built by G.J. Stewart & Company of Chariton. The building features both round and segmental arches,

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

s with

conical roof A conical roof or cone roof is a cone-shaped roof that is circular at its base and terminates in a point. Distribution Conical roofs are frequently found on top of towers in medieval town fortifications and castles, where they may either si ...

s, and

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. The windows are vertical and narrow. The tower was originally topped by a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

, with minor caps that flanked it. The building is similar in style to the

Wapello County Courthouse The Wapello County Courthouse in Ottumwa, Iowa, United States, was built in 1894. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the fourth buildin ...

in Ottumwa, which was also designed by Foster & Liebbe and completed the year before. The square the courthouse sits on was included as a

contributing site 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 distric ...

in the Lucas County Courthouse Square Historic District. Besides the courthouse, the square is also the location for the Civil War Memorial (1916-

contributing object 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 distric ...

), the Mormon Trail Marker (1923-contributing object), a bandstand (c. 2000), and Veteran's Memorial (c. 2000). The significance of the courthouse is derived from its association with county government, and the political power and prestige of Chariton as 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 ...

References

{{NRHP in Lucas County, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1893 Chariton, Iowa Romanesque Revival architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Lucas County, Iowa Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa County courthouses in Iowa Clock towers in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Lucas County, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa