The Old Harrison County Courthouse, located in

Magnolia, Iowa Magnolia is a city in Harrison County, Iowa, United States. The population was 190 at the time of the 2020 census. History Harrison County was established in 1851 and organized on March 7, 1853. Abram Fletcher, Charles Wolcott and A. D. Jones we ...

, United States, was built in 1873. 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 1983 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

History

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

was chosen as Harrison County's 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 ...

. A log cabin served as the first courthouse. It was destroyed in a fire along with the county records. A second courthouse was built in 1854. The county raised the funds for its construction by selling town lots. The building was condemned as unsafe in 1873, and the county's third courthouse was built the same year. It served the county for three years until

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gover ...

was named the county seat in 1876. After its use as a courthouse it was used as a

Methodist Episcopal church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

until at least 1938. Its significance is derived from being one of the few former courthouses extant in the state, and its association with county government and the political power and prestige of Magnolia as the county seat. with It is also representative of the many county seat battles that Iowa counties engaged in.

Architecture

The generally rectangular structure is faced with brick laid in a common bond. A small porch extends from the center of the main facade. It features projecting

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s that frame a doorway that has been narrowed. The window sills are stone. The building is capped with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

References

{{NRHP in Harrison County, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1873 Buildings and structures in Harrison County, Iowa Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Former courthouses in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Harrison County, Iowa

History

Architecture

See also

References