Eureka Courthouse, Eureka, NV
Historical marker in front of the Eureka County Courthouse, 10 South Main Street, Eureka, Nevada. The Nevada legislature created Eureka County in 1873. Officials renovated a former ice rink donated by Judge John O'Darrow to serve as the first county courthouse. A fortified jail and fireproof vault were added to the 40-by-100-foot wooden building located at the intersection of Main and Bateman Streets. After fire destroyed hundreds of buildings in the town of Eureka in 1879, officials became concerned about their wooden courthouse and accepted plans from George C. Costerisan for a more formidable structure. The county hired R. Ryland to construct the courthouse. He withdrew from the project shortly after the completion of the exterior, at which point Costerisan finished the interior. J.S. Whitton supervised the construction, and McNally and Hawkins of San Francisco provided the heating and plumbing. Construction of this two-story brick structure began in 1879 and was completed in 1880. The building was added to the already existing jail which remained in use through the 1980s. Construction of the courthouse cost $38,000. It was designed in a modest Italianate, turn-of-the-century style, but additional expenses for a vault and other fixtures brought the price to $50,000. The brick two-story structure measures 50-by-80-feet and stands fifty-one feet high. A second-floor balcony supported by brackets rests over the main entrance. Exterior accents include brick pilasters that rise to a metal-bracketed cornice, and a parapet wall with detailed brickwork. The large iron shutters adjacent to the windows and doors of the courthouse (and other buildings of the town) protected the windows from fires and other damages.
Interior details consist of an imported Spanish cedar judge's bench and balustrade and gilded accents throughout. Two of the original walk-in
safes are still useable. The doors are 6 inches thick iron with lovely summer scenes painted on them.The second-floor courtroom is recognized as the best preserved in Nevada. It measures forty-five square feet with a nineteen-foot high ceiling of pressed metal. A suspended gallery at the rear provides seating for one hundred. The semi-circular witness box placed in front of the judge's bench is distinctive because of its shape and its unusual location. When it was completed, it was the finest courthouse in the state of Nevada outside Virginia City. The building is one of two nineteenth-century Nevada courthouses still in use today; the other is the one located in Virginia City.
The two large bells in front of the courthouse were rung as fire alarms by two of Eureka's several volunteer fire companies. One was cast in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the other in San Francisco. Each bell was identified by its tone.
Eureka Courthouse, Eureka, NV
Historical marker in front of the Eureka County Courthouse, 10 South Main Street, Eureka, Nevada. The Nevada legislature created Eureka County in 1873. Officials renovated a former ice rink donated by Judge John O'Darrow to serve as the first county courthouse. A fortified jail and fireproof vault were added to the 40-by-100-foot wooden building located at the intersection of Main and Bateman Streets. After fire destroyed hundreds of buildings in the town of Eureka in 1879, officials became concerned about their wooden courthouse and accepted plans from George C. Costerisan for a more formidable structure. The county hired R. Ryland to construct the courthouse. He withdrew from the project shortly after the completion of the exterior, at which point Costerisan finished the interior. J.S. Whitton supervised the construction, and McNally and Hawkins of San Francisco provided the heating and plumbing. Construction of this two-story brick structure began in 1879 and was completed in 1880. The building was added to the already existing jail which remained in use through the 1980s. Construction of the courthouse cost $38,000. It was designed in a modest Italianate, turn-of-the-century style, but additional expenses for a vault and other fixtures brought the price to $50,000. The brick two-story structure measures 50-by-80-feet and stands fifty-one feet high. A second-floor balcony supported by brackets rests over the main entrance. Exterior accents include brick pilasters that rise to a metal-bracketed cornice, and a parapet wall with detailed brickwork. The large iron shutters adjacent to the windows and doors of the courthouse (and other buildings of the town) protected the windows from fires and other damages.
Interior details consist of an imported Spanish cedar judge's bench and balustrade and gilded accents throughout. Two of the original walk-in
safes are still useable. The doors are 6 inches thick iron with lovely summer scenes painted on them.The second-floor courtroom is recognized as the best preserved in Nevada. It measures forty-five square feet with a nineteen-foot high ceiling of pressed metal. A suspended gallery at the rear provides seating for one hundred. The semi-circular witness box placed in front of the judge's bench is distinctive because of its shape and its unusual location. When it was completed, it was the finest courthouse in the state of Nevada outside Virginia City. The building is one of two nineteenth-century Nevada courthouses still in use today; the other is the one located in Virginia City.
The two large bells in front of the courthouse were rung as fire alarms by two of Eureka's several volunteer fire companies. One was cast in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the other in San Francisco. Each bell was identified by its tone.