The Grant County Courthouse building is located in
Ephrata, Washington
Ephrata ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Washington, United States. Its population was 8,477 at the 2020 census.
History
Ephrata was officially incorporated on June 21, 1909 and was given the county seat for the newly creat ...
and is the
Administrative Center of Government for
Grant County Grant County may refer to:
Places
;Australia
* County of Grant, Victoria
;United States
*Grant County, Arkansas
*Grant County, Indiana
* Grant County, Kansas
*Grant County, Kentucky
*Grant County, Minnesota
*Grant County, Nebraska
*Grant C ...
. 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 1975.
[ with ]
Construction
The original courthouse was a two-story, wood-framed building, built shortly after Grant County was created in 1909. The wood building was constructed in 1909 (and the first courthouse of Grant County) by J. O. Cunningham of
Wilson Creek for a bid of $4,975. The original courthouse, however, was of modest construction and quickly became outdated as Grant County grew, and due to the growth of the Grant County government, inadequate space for county personnel, the lack of archival storage, and safety concerns, a new courthouse building was necessary. The former courthouse was later transformed into a community Methodist church.
Construction of a new Grant County Courthouse began late July 1917 with the purchase of two city blocks in downtown Ephrata. With plans laid out by architect George Keith, the building was built in the classical revival style, with
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
, concrete, and brick exterior, with ornate columns and cornices. The cost of the Courthouse cost Grant County $63,263 total. On January 25, 1918, the new building was accepted by the Grant County Commissioners from the contractor and the local government moved into the building. County Clerk J. D. Steele was the first government official who occupied the new courthouse.
The courthouse is
geothermally heated from a
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
[
] (actually a 305m deep well).
Renovation
In 2014, plans were made to renovate the aging building and restore it to its 1917 appearance by removing vinyl windows, restoring the front staircase, and upgrading the inefficient two-pipe building environmental system.
References
External links
*
National Register of Historic Places in Grant County, Washington
Courthouses in Washington (state)
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