Scott County Courthouse (Iowa)

The Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa, United States was built in 1955 and extensively renovated over a ten year period between 1998-2009. It is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration. It is part of a larger county complex that includes the county jail, administration building and juvenile detention facility.

History

Scott County was established in 1837 by the legislature of the Wisconsin Territory. ^[1] Until this time the area had been a part of Des Moines County. The first court sessions in the county were held in St. Anthony's Catholic Church.^[2] The juries met in a room that was made available by George Davenport.

Davenport and Rockingham, a town a mile south on the Mississippi River, contended for the county seat. An election was held in February 1838. Because the population base at the time was in the southern part of the county, Rockingham was favored. Davenport’s promoters paid $3,000 in whiskey and bribes to miners from Dubuque, Iowa to vote for Davenport, which won the election.^[1] Rockingham contested the election and a new election was set for August 1838. Both towns’ promoters defrauded the ballot box this time, but the results remained the same. Rockingham again protested and the legislature of the Iowa Territory, of which Scott County had become a part of in 1838, set a new election for the summer of 1840 and Winfield entered the contest. This time Davenport’s promoters promised to build a courthouse and jail free of charge. ^[1] Rockingham and Winfield could not match the offer and Davenport won the election 318-221.^[3] Rockingham was later annexed into the city of Davenport.

The county's first courthouse was a Greek Revival style building built in 1842.^[4] It was located on Bolivar Square, one of the four public squares laid out by Antoine LeClaire when he plotted the town in 1836.^[5] As the county grew a larger courthouse was needed and an ornate Beaux Arts structure was built in 1886.^[6] The building was constructed of Bedford stone and was topped by a dome. It was built at a cost of $125,000.^[4] Around 1930 termites began to eat away at the wood beams that supported the structure. The building started to sink into the sandy soil it was built on, which necessitated costly repairs.

The present courthouse was built in 1955 at a cost of $1,480,000.^[4] In 1983 the courthouse and the Scott County Jail were joined together by an addition to the jail, whose original building was constructed in 1896. A ten year $13.8 million renovation project began in 1998 after many county offices were moved from the courthouse into a new administration center.^[7] Court related offices were moved into newly renovated areas during the project. In 2004 a bond referendum was passed by county voters to expand the size of the jail. The $29.7 million expansion was opened in 2007^[8] and expanded the courthouse and jail complex with a 75,000-square-foot (6,967.73 m²) addition.^[9] The new entrance pavilion provided security screening to the entire courthouse for the first time.^[10]

In 2010 the county board of supervisors approved a $176,000 plan to renovate the courthouse's 11 court rooms.^[11] Renovations include electrical wiring, technology upgrades, painting, replacing carpet and ceiling tiles and asbestos removal.

Architecture

The 1955 courthouse itself is a three-story rectangular structure.^[6] It was designed in the modern architectural style. The exterior is clad in aluminum and the foundation is faced with granite, as is the surround for what served as the building’s main entrance.^[4] There are corrugated metal sections between the floors and fixed-pane windows. The building is topped by a flat roof. When the jail was expanded in 2007 a new entrance into the courthouse and jail complex was created on the west side of the courthouse. The new entrance pavilion has a glass and metal façade with a freestanding stone archway in front of the building.^[10]

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