The Mahaska County Courthouse in

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a List of cities in Iowa, city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U ...

, United States, was built in 1886. 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 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. In 1986 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 Oskaloosa City Square Commercial Historic District. The courthouse is the second building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

History

Mahaska County's first courthouse was built during the winter of 1844–1845. It was a two-story frame structure that measured . It also served as a church and opera house. The county discontinued using the building in 1855 and rented office space in town to carry out the various county functions. It was rented out by the county until it was sold in 1867 for $3,800. The old courthouse was moved to a different location, and a bank was built on the old location. Concern over county records led to plans to build a new courthouse, but the county failed to pass a bond referendum and continued to rent office space. The present courthouse was built in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

style on part of the Oskaloosa public park. It was built for $132,000 and was dedicated in 1886. It was designed by the

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

architectural firm of H.C. Koch & Company, and built by the O.J. King Company.

Architecture

The courthouse is a 3½-story red brick and stone structure. It is built on a rusticated stone foundation. The main facade has a large stone arch that surrounds the first story entrance. The central tower has a square clock tower with spires at the top. It was altered in 1934 and it now has an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

effect, giving the building a rather odd appearance. with It was originally taller with a

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

-shaped roof. Stone

beltcourse A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

s run along the building at the

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

and impost level. The roofline has

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 ...

d wall

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a Roof pitch, pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the ...

s with arched windows. The grounds feature a statue of

Chief Mahaska Mahaska (archaic Chiwere language, Ioway ''Maxúshga'' pronounced ; contemporary ''Maxúhga''), or White Cloud, (c. 1784–1834) was a chief of the Native Americans in the United States, Native American Iowa tribe. His son, also named Mahask ...

, for whom the county is named.

References

External links

* {{NRHP in Mahaska County, Iowa Government buildings completed in 1886 Romanesque Revival architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Mahaska County, Iowa Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Mahaska County, Iowa County courthouses in Iowa Clock towers in Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa