The Oscoda County Courthouse was the

county 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, ...

for

Oscoda County, Michigan Oscoda County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,219, making it the least populous county in the Lower Peninsula, and the sixth-least populous county in the entire state. The county sea ...

, located in Mio at 311 Morenci Ave ( M-33). The courthouse was a

Michigan State Historic Site The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office is one of 59 state historic preservation offices established according to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 that plays a role in implementing federal historic preservation policy in th ...

and 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 ...

. , the courthouse operated courtrooms for the 23rd

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

, 81st District Court, and Oscoda County Probate Court. The courthouse was destroyed by a fire on the evening of May 4, 2016. Though no longer used as a courthouse, the building housed many of the county's governmental offices. After the fire, temporary mobile offices were erected across the street from the original location to allow for the demolition and disposal of the remaining structure. Construction of the new building officially began on May 20, 2019, and was completed in February 2020.

History

The land the courthouse was built on was purchased by the county in 1885 from John Randall, one of the community's founders, for $100. The courthouse was built by George E. Hunter from July 1888 to May 1889, at a cost of about $3800. Two wings, housing vaults for the county clerk and treasurer, were constructed in 1908. The building gained a water supply in 1891 and was electrified in 1917. The courthouse was designated a

on August 13, 1971, and added to the

on August 25, 1972. A Michigan State Historic Site informational marker was erected in 2001. It burned on May 4, 2016.

Architecture

The courthouse was a two-story, rectangular front-gable building. Clad in aluminum, the building originally had white clapboard siding. The building was fronted by a projected bay, topped with a hip-roofed steeple. The entrance was fronted by a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

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 ...

, beneath a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

on the second story. One-story wings extended from both sides of the courthouse. The courthouse was designed by architects Pratt and Koeppe in the

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

style. Unlike the stone and brick courthouses commonly built at the time, the Oscoda County Courthouse was a modest wood-frame building.

References

{{Reflist Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites Government buildings completed in 1889 Buildings and structures in Oscoda County, Michigan Neoclassical architecture in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Oscoda County, Michigan

History

Architecture

See also

References