Topic: Courthouse History
started by: n0esc
Posted by n0esc on Feb. 06 2005,2:12 am
Courthouse in 1955
Freeborn County's first courthouse was built in 1866. The two-story building was built of brick and was a simple single-gable rectangle with its narrow side at the front. The main doorway on the second level was reached by a straight, central, banistered stair and a balcony, which provided both a vantage point to view and address the public and a shaded porch for quiet lounging beneath. The recorded cost is $3,300, plus another $1,000 contributed by Albert Lea citizens for the second floor courtroom.
Twenty-two years later in 1888, the uppoer story brick had begun to crumble and the courthouse currently in use was built to replaced it. The Richardsonian Romanesque building was designed by C.A. Dunham from Burlington, Iowa, and built by Alexander McNeill of Albert Lea at a cost of $75,000. The building is an adaptation of the popular monumental style with a great tower and sculptured "dogs" that seem to leap from the building.
The 74 by 104 foot red brick, red sandstone, and Kasota limestone building features elaborately carved quarter-sawed oak woodwork. Fireplaces dominated the larger rooms. An electric water pump for limited indoor plumbing was a very modern addition at the time.
In 1953, five chimneys and four steeples were eliminated. In 1955, local architect Bernard Hein and contractor John F. Hanson built a $358,260 addition, pictured above. The bell tower and its 1,600 pound bell were also removed from the main courthouse. The bell was sold to the Grace Lutheran Church congregation for $100.
A second addition was designed by Foss, Englestad and Foss of Fargo and built in 1975 by Adolphson & Peterson, Inc. of Minneapolis. The utilitarian three-story addition cost $2 million. In 1979, the exterior of the courthouse was renovated.
Main Building in 1940s
1920s
1915