Courthouses (State & Local) Sites

This structure was constructed with WPA help, but did not receive sought-for PWA funding: "Forty years later, the November 4, 1938 Burns Times-Herald called the courthouse “antiquated poorly arranged.” Voters were deciding whether the county should construct a new $100,000 courthouse, with 45 percent of the cost to be paid by the federal Public Works Administration (PWA). With such largess, the issue passed, and the county judge immediately traveled to Portland to present a request to the PWA official. But the PWA refused the request; later newspaper accounts blamed either incomplete plans or that the county’s part of the funding...

Originally installed in the Burns post office, this mural was one of the Treasury Section's 48-State Post Office Competition murals. "New Deal mural entitled "Cattle Round-Up" painted by Jack Wilkinson in 1941. When a new post office was built in the early 90's, the mural was moved to the 2nd floor court room in the Harney County Courthouse." (flickr)

Sometimes misattributed to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Bethany, Missouri's Harrison County Courthouse and jail was enabled by the provision of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The stately Art Deco project was authorized in an election in 1938 as a bond issue in conjunction with PWA grant. The cornerstone for the building was laid on Aug. 14, 1939; it was placed on the south façade of the building, at the southeast corner. The building was completed and opened in 1940. A humorous story from the courthouse's construction comes from the St. Joseph News-Press: QUESTION OF SPELLING IS ISSUE AT BETHANY BETHANY, Mo., Jan...

The NRHP nomination form describes this courthouse as the "...finest extant example of the Art Deco style within the city of Hope, Arkansas. Its horizontal symmetrical massing, set back rooflines and stylized Art Deco ornamentation are all identifying characteristics of the style that became the dominant architectural idiom for Depression-era public works courthouses throughout the state" (Story, 1994). The county applied for PWA funds August 1, 1938. The courthouse was constructed for $200,000, through a $110,000 loan and a $90,000 grant (PWA fund granted). The central part of the courthouse is five stories, with two-story wings on the north and...

The historic Hettinger County Courthouse in Mott, North Dakota was constructed as a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project. The PWA supplied a $30,622 grant for the project, whose total cost was $108,243. Primary construction occurred between Sept. 1934 and Nov. 1935. PWA Docket No. 6106

The historic Holt County Courthouse in O'Neill, Nebraska was constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA provided a $49,909 grant for the project, whose total cost was $114,981. Construction occurred between January 1936 and February 1937. PWA Docket No. NE 1009.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the old Homicide Court Building at 33-to-35 Snyder Ave. The Homicide Court Building referred to was a 1929 addition to a structure built in 1875 as the Flatbush Town Hall: "When Flatbush and the rest of Brooklyn became part of New York City in 1894, the Town Hall became a police precinct headquarters and the 7th District Magistrate’s Court. In 1929, an addition was built to...

Thermopolis, Wyoming's Hot Springs County Courthouse (and jail) was constructed in 1937 with federal Public Works Administration funds (PWA Docket No. WY 1014 DS). The building received an addition in 1982 and it is still in use today.

In early 1938, the Houston County commissioners court began making plans for construction of the county's fifth courthouse. Community leaders led a successful campaign for a bond election of $120,000 to qualify for a Public Works Administration grant. In November 1938, the 1883 Victorian style courthouse was razed. Finished in 1939, the new courthouse was designed by Houston County native Blum Hester and constructed by Eckert-Fair Construction Co. of Dallas. The Moderne style building with Art Deco features is a reflection of popular architectural trends of the 1930s and is still in use for county government. The courthouse was designated a Recorded...

According to the National Register of Historic Places, the Howard County Courthouse was built with $29,000 in funding assistance from the Works Progress Administration between 1936 and 1937.

Howard County Courthouse in Kokomo, Indiana was constructed with the assistance of Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The building was dedicated Oct. 20, 1937.

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Howard County Courthouse in Nashville, Arkansas. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

"The Hughes County Courthouse was designed in the Public Works Administration Moderne style with Art Deco features by the architects Hugill and Blatherwick and constructed by the Henry Carlson Company, all out of Sioux Falls. This governmental interpretation is a simplified version of the exuberant Art Deco style that appealed to a nation in the midst of the Great Depression. The uninterrupted square massing of the building and vertical bands of windows separated by decorative-patterned brick spandrels provide the only historical references to the style. The buildings utilization of Art Deco and Moderne design elements is typical of South Dakotas...

"Plans for the current courthouse were approved in 1936. The Des Moines architectural firm of Dougher, Rich & Woodburn were retained to design the building. The county applied to the Public Works Administration, or PWA, to assist with the funding. The grant was approved in 1937. The contract to build the building was given to Holtze Construction Co. of Sioux City, Iowa. The cornerstone was laid on April 30, 1938, and the new building was dedicated on February 25, 1939. The courthouse was built for $185,000. Iowa Supreme Court Justice Richard Mitchell delivered the main address at an open house. The...

The modernist Iberia Parish Courthouse was undertaken in New Iberia, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The three story, Art-Deco style building had white stucco walls and was completed for a cost of $410,863. The original courtroom contains the last federally directed mural by Conrad Albrizio, The Struggle of Man, completed in 1940. The courthouse entered use in 1940 and was officially dedicated on Armistice Day, 1941.

The Independence County Courthouse is a two-story, stone masonry institutional building with a raised basement and a Batesville marble exterior, laid out in a symmetrical, roughly "H"-shaped plan. The central, taller section of the building is five bays in length along the northern or Main Street elevation and accessed via a central, double-leaf entry. The lower, flanking sections are a single bay across. The eastern and western are each five bays in length. The building is fenestrated throughout with metal casement and awning windows, virtually all of which are original. It rests upon a concrete foundation and is covered with...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided funding and labor toward the development of the Irion County Courthouse in Mertzon, Texas. It is unclear whether the WPA was directly involved in the building's construction or if it undertook landscaping efforts around the courthouse square. Per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "total cost of the building and landscaping will be $110,000." Irion County Seat Moved In Election By a vote of 453 to 222 nine more than a two-thirds majority, Irion county voted today to move its county seat from Sherwood to Mertzon. A $90.000 bond issue was voted in June and a $40.000 grant from...

The Jack County Courthouse was designed in 1939 by Wichita Falls firm Voelker and Dixon. The county applied for a grant in 1938 from the Federal Works Agency and received approximately half of the funding from the PWA, the rest of which had to be provided locally. Voelker and Dixon designed a number of courthouses and other buildings for Texas. The buidiling was completed in a "Modern Classical Style" which includes elements of Art Moderne and Art Deco, both popular at the time, with classical elements such as the pilasters (Smith, 2012). The three-story building (with an additional story in the...

"On June 9, 1933, the Jackson County Court awarded a $2,073,609 contract to the Swenson Construction Company for construction of the Jackson County Courthouse.  The opulent Art Deco-style 300-foot tall building would reside alongside Kansas City's skyscrapers and provide much-needed space for the court system.  Equally important, its construction along with dozens of other projects completed as a part of Kansas City’s “Ten Year Plan” would provide jobs to hundreds of beleaguered Kansas City residents then suffering from the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression..."   (https://www.kclibrary.org) The courthouse was completed in 1934 with PWA support.  

The central part of the courthouse building dates to 1872. In 1933, the courthouse additions to the east and west of the original structure and extensive interior remodeling were completed in late 1933 as a PWA project. The additions were overseen by the presiding judge Harry S Truman, and the courthouse was subsequently known as "Truman's Courthouse." The present Jackson County Courthouse is a also New Deal project, and is in Kansas City, MO.

The Jackson Parish Courthouse was undertaken in Jonesboro, Louisiana during the Great Depression with the assistance of funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). It was part of the largest wave of courthouse construction in Louisiana history, with eleven total courthouses erected between 1936-1940 (Leighninger, 2011). The courthouse for Jackson Parish is a "...relatively simple and sedate composition with deco bands above first and third floors...first floor is stone, and the upper two are brick" (Leighninger, 2007, p. 113-114). Cost of construction was $251,406.

The Jefferson County courthouse in Mt. Vernon IL was built with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1939.  It is a three-story concrete structure in Moderne or Art Deco style, designed by architect William R. McCoy, who was quite active in central Illinois at the time.  It is one of six New Deal county courthouses in Illinois (Weiser 2009).  Unfortunately, Weiser, Wikipedia and other sources make the common mistake of confusing the PWA with the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The courthouse is an elegant building, with a protruding south portico with  three vertical sections divided by bas-relief pillars.   Above...

WPA project 41146 approved $19,859 for "new construction, enlargement, alteration, and improvement of the building, including addition of paintings, installing of plumbing and electric facilities and other operating equipments and appurtenances to perform incidental and appurtenant work" (Half Million, 1940, p. 15). Smith and Norwood were selected to construct a "complete modernization program of the Jeff Davis county courthouse"(To Remodel, 1940, p. 6) with construction beginning May 1940.

The Jerome County Courthouse in Jerome, Idaho was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1938-1939. Jerome County received a $39,150 dollar grant from the WPA regional office in Portland, Oregon toward an estimated cost of $87,000 for the project. The county had already passed a bond election to provide its part of the funds for construction. The modest sized courthouse features a relatively flamboyant Moderne (Art Deco) style on the facade.  The designers were Sundberg & Sundberg and the contractor was Paul Kartzke. The entrance lobby appears relatively unchanged. A new addition has been made to the east end...

Art Deco courthouse funded by WPA. KERC funding opened the quarries that provided the limestone. Building is still in use and on the National Register of Historic Places.

W.P.A. Bulletin, 1937: "Continuing a program which has changed the interior of the old Pemberton square courthouse in Boston from a dingy old relic of the horse and buggy days into a beautiful building, 147 building tradesmen and laborers are resuming the work. The Federal government is paying $95,301 of the cost of this supplementary project while the City of Boston is contributing $19,584. All loose and broken tile and marble will be replaced by marblesetters, old lavatories will be replaced with modern facilities, treads will be placed on stairways and the building will be generally made safe and sanitary. All...

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) undertook improvement work at the former Johnson County Courthouse in Paintsville, Kentucky: "Interior Remodeled, Including Electric, Water, and Heating Systems." The exact location and status of the former courthouse is unknown to Living New Deal.

In 1938 the county commissioners condemned the existing courthouse as being unsafe. The replacement building was financed by $75,000 from the WPA and $30,000 in county bonds. The Colonial Revival building sheathed in Flemish bond brick was completed in 1939.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) carried out improvements on the county Hall of Records building in Martinez CA, constructed in 1932, which is now known as the Justice Wakefield Taylor Courthouse (California State Superior Court). There were three different projects approved for the Hall of Records, in 1935, 1936 and 1937, for a total of over $28,000, according to WPA Project Cards in the National Archives.  The work specified included partitions of work areas, wiring, fixtures, and heating in the courts and painting, wiring and a burglar alarm system in the Hall of Records. The Taylor Courthouse (originally the county Hall of...

Designed by Overend and Boucher of Wichita, the historic Kearny County Courthouse in Lakin, Kansas was constructed in 1938-9 as a Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (a.k.a. Public Works Administration—PWA) project, one of several P.W.A. county courthouses in Kansas. The P.W.A. supplied a $31,950 grant for the project, whose total cost was $71,067. P.W.A. Docket No. Kansas 1194-F

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the Kings County Supreme Court building.

The WPA provided labor for the construction of the Knox County Courthouse and a school in Benjamin, Texas. The courthouse, built in stone in the Moderne style by the firm of Voelcker & Dixon, was constructed at a cost of $95,337.

This courthouse has a classic revival design with minimal ornamentation, though the light fixtures in the front are art deco.

The Lafayette County Courthouse (built from 1940-1942) was funded 40% by the WPA (Arkansas Historic Preservation Program). It is in the Art Deco style typical of the period, which means it was more restrained than the earlier Art Deco style of architecture, prior to the depression. The architects were Clippard and Vaught.

The addition to the existing 1849 courthouse was accomplished with an almost seamless continuation of the style of the original.  The dental work below the eaves and over-all style was duplicated.  This was important to the townspeople because of its historic nature.  In the photo of the original courthouse, a cannonball from the Civil War Battle of Lexington remains embedded in the top of the pillar on the left.

"There were nine PWA-financed courthouses constructed in South Dakota during the Depression era. Although designs were not standardized, most were three or four story buildings designed in variations of the Moderne styles. Building materials and finishes included brick, stone, concrete, terra cotta, terrazzo floors, marble, wood, steel casement windows, and cast metal ornamentation. Most courthouses from this era are distinguished by their massing and form. Typically larger, block-like buildings on elevated bases, courthouses usually display symmetry with a central entrance and uniformly placed window bays. Detailed surrounds and/or projecting bays often emphasize the central entrance. Interior character-defining features generally include large...

The original 1905 courthouse, a wood frame Victorian, was renovated in 1936. J. H. McGuire and Company added a brick veneer, removed the Victorian tower, and replaced it with a 2-story Classical Revival style portico. In addition, rooms were added to the rear and the courtroom was renovated.

The Works Progress Administration built the Latimer County Courthouse in Wilburton. Contributor note: "The Latimer County Courthouse is located at the intersection of N. Central and W. Ada. This is a beautiful two-story rock building that is painted a cream color. The gutters and downspouts are painted in a contrasting terracotta color which adds to the effect. The windows for the most part are 8-pane fixed units. There are recessed double-door entrances on the south and east. The courthouse has three bays with the center bay slightly projected on the east, and having a higher roof line. To the left of the...

Architects P. J. Krouse and L. L. Brasfield substantially redesigned the historic Lauderdale County courthouse, a 1905 Beaux Arts building originally designed by Krouse, and "transformed into an Art Deco structure" (Ford, 2004). The traditional features, including a dome, cupola, and classic portico were removed and additions of a 3-story setback tower with curved walls enhanced both space and architectural design. The Public Works Administration provided a grant of $127,147 and the county issued a $140,000 bond to fund the project as Mississippi W 1182. It was completed December 4, 1939.

Ripley, Tennessee's historic Lauderdale County Courthouse was constructed during the Great Depression with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The buff-colored Moderne courthouse was the fourth constructed for Lauderdale County, and the first of their PWA courthouses for architects Marr and Holman.