The Mineral County Courthouse, also known as the 1883 Esmeralda County Courthouse and the Old Mineral County Courthouse, is an historic county courthouse building located at 551 C Street in

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

Mineral County, Nevada Mineral County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,554, making it the fifth-least populous county in Nevada. Its county seat is Hawthor ...

. Built in 1883 as the Esmeralda County Courthouse, it served as such until 1907 when the county seat was moved to Goldfield. In 1911 when Mineral County was created, it became the first Mineral County Courthouse, and served until 1970, when a new courthouse was constructed. It is the only building in Nevada to have served as the courthouse of two different counties. On January 29, 1982 it was 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 ...

. As of 2008 (photo), it was fenced off and in disrepair.

Description

On a residential street with other public structures close by, the Old Mineral County Courthouse is situated in a park-like setting. Furnished with a single-story

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 ...

and a composite roofline, it is a 2-story rectangular unreinforced brick building. The courthouse has an enormous

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

and a number old Cottonwood trees which provide shade with the

Community Center A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

next at hand. The Italianate-Building was decorated with braced sidewalls, vaguely arched window and door openings, and a bracketed cornice along the roofline. 4

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

s of the building are capped with the Central

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s. An unusual accent is added to the structure by the entrance

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

in a 5-sided semicircular shape with wooden columns, and
balustrade
in a pentagram design. The National Emergency Recovery Act of the 1930s added a concrete vault and removed the roof's

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 ...

which the authority claimed to be too heavy for the building. Also, the workers changed the first wooden portico on the east with a concrete version of a moderately dissimilar style.

History and Context

The natives of the fledgling town had mounted a campaign to acquire county seat status less than 2 years after the infant community of

was founded as a station on the newly-constructed Carson & Colorado Railroad. The

Legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

of the State accepted an act for removing the county seat of Esmeralda County from

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

to Hawthorne. The Legislature also approved the bonds selling to collect funds for managing the cost of construction for a

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

within a sum which will not exceed 30,000 dollars on 1 March 1883. The transfer of office was effective from July 1 of the same year. Officials of Esmeralda County permitted a construction contract for 29,125 USD in 1883 to George W. Babcock. The officials chose A.C. Glenn for supervising the construction of the courthouse. In the course of the process, Mr. Glenn was replaced by D.R. Munro. Differences occurred between authorized plans and the project in progress which created a controversy among the locals. The increased cost was 33,976 USD after the changes.

References

External links

Historic photo of old courthouse
{{Nevada State Historic Places/Mineral Government buildings completed in 1883 Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Buildings and structures in Mineral County, Nevada County courthouses in Nevada Italianate architecture in Nevada National Register of Historic Places in Mineral County, Nevada

Description

History and Context

See also

References

External links