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, Iowa, Des Moines, Newton is in Central Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city population was 15,760 ...

, 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1981. 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 dist ...

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 A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

structure that was faced with

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

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

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. The building featured

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

s 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, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

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 Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

architectural firm of

Proudfoot & Bird Proudfoot & Bird was an American architectural firm that designed many buildings throughout the Midwest region of the United States. Originally established in 1882, it remains active through its several successors, and since 2017 has been known as ...

. with It is built of Indiana limestone except for the doors and window casings which are wooden. American general and Iowa politician

James B. Weaver James Baird Weaver (June 12, 1833 – February 6, 1912) was an American politician in Iowa who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and two-time candidate for President of the United States. He belonged to several d ...

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 Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

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 upward extension of a 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/brea ...

s around the tower. The interior has ceramic tile and marble, and freestanding column screens divide the hallways from the

rotunda A rotunda () is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome. It may also refer to a round room within a building (an example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.). ...

. The outside of the building is decorated during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

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 a retired American politician who served as the 39th and 42nd governor of Iowa (1983–1999; 2011–2017) and the United States ambassador to China (2017–2020). A member of the Repu ...

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