Cass County Courthouse (Iowa)
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Cass County Court House | |
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| Location | 5 W. 7th St. , Atlantic, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 41°24′12″N 95°0′52″W / 41.40333°N 95.01444°WCoordinates: 41°24′12″N 95°0′52″W / 41.40333°N 95.01444°W |
| Built | 1934 |
| Architect | Dougher, Rich and Woodburn |
| Architectural style | PWA Moderne |
| Governing body | County Government |
| MPS | PWA-Era County Courthouses of IA MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 03000819 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 28, 2003 |
The Cass County Courthouse in Atlantic, Iowa, United States was built in 1934. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 as a part of the PWA-Era County Courthouses of IA Multiple Properties Submission.[1] It was the first courthouse in Iowa built with funding from the Public Works Administration, or PWA.[2] The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.[2]
History
Cass County was organized in 1853.[3] The first county commissioners met in Indiantown and chose a place called Lewis as the county seat. A two-story house was built for the courthouse.[3] The railroad was built through Atlantic and the town offered the county land for a new courthouse. In 1869 the county accepted Atlantic's offer and built a small frame building on the site. The building soon proved to be inadequate and the county rented the nearby Park House to provide additional space.[3] A new two-story stone courthouse building was built in 1888. It was destroyed by fire in March 1932.[3]
Because of the Great Depression, the first referendum to build a new courthouse failed in the General Election of 1932.[2] The following year President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began the Public Works Administration, and Cass County was the first county to apply for a grant.[2] The second referendum was passed by the voters in 1933 and the county retained the Des Moines architectural firm of Dougher, Rich & Woodburn to design the new building. C.C. Larsen Co. of Council Bluffs, Iowa won the bid to construct the building and work began in March 1934. The new building was dedicated on December 26, 1934 with Governor Clyde L. Herring as the main speaker.[2]
Architecture
The architectural style of the building is known as Depression Modern or PWA Moderne.[2] The building features a symmetrical façade with a central section that is flanked by two lower sections. The exterior is composed of buff colored brick and Bedford limestone trim. It is three-stories tall and built on a raised basement. On the interior the central corridors extend the length of the building with the county offices opening onto the corridors. The building features multi-colored terrazzo floors, marble wainscoting and acoustic tiles. The court room was originally decorated in dark wood tones and Art Deco ornamentation.[2]
Dougher, Rich & Woodburn was able to save three other Iowa counties money by providing a similar design for their county’s new courthouse. Newspapers in Buchanan and Humboldt counties printed drawings that were nearly identical when they were planning to build new courthouses in the 1930s.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-11-08.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Svendsen, Marlvs A. "PWA-Era County Courthouses of IA MPS". National Park Service. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Cass County Courthouse". Iowa Judicial Branch. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
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