Cook County Courthouse in

Grand Marais, Minnesota Grand Marais ( ) is a city and the county seat of Cook County, Minnesota, Cook County, Minnesota, United States, of which it is the only municipality. It is on Lake Superior's North Shore. Grand Marais had a population of 1,337 at the 2020 Unit ...

, United States, was built in 1911 and designed by architects Anton Werner Lignell and

Clyde Wetmore Kelly Clyde may refer to: People and fictional characters * Clyde (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Clyde (surname), including a list of people * Walt Frazier (born 1945), American basketball player nicknamed "Clyde" * Colin Cam ...

. 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 ...

in 1983. When Cook County was first organized, county business was conducted in a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

on a spit of land that extended into

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

. The first real courthouse building was built in 1889 and was a two-story frame building. It later received a one-story addition. The original frame courthouse was seen as "obsolete, limited in space, and far too modest an expression of the county's future," so in 1910, voters authorized the sale of bonds to build a new courthouse. The new building, completed in 1912, was built in the

Classical Revival style Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of the most promin ...

and features Ionic columns supporting a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. It stands on a hill overlooking the city of Grand Marais and Lake Superior.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Cook County, Minnesota County courthouses in Minnesota Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Government buildings completed in 1911 Neoclassical architecture in Minnesota 1911 establishments in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Cook County, Minnesota Grand Marais, Minnesota Anton Werner Lignell buildings