601 3rd Ave
Two Harbors, MN, USA

Lake County Courthouse and Sheriff's Residence

The Lake County Courthouse and Sheriff's Residence, located at 601 3rd Avenue in Two Harbors, Lake County in the U.S. state of Minnesota was built in 1906. In 1888 a two-story brick sheriff's residence and jail was erected with an adjacent Queen Anne style courthouse. A 1904 fire destroyed the courthouse, but the jail and residence remained. The replacement building, designed in the Beaux Arts style by James Allen MacLeod, was built of brick and limestone, featuring quoin blocks, stone window surrounds with large keystones, dentil moulding, and four large columns supporting the entry overhang. The courtroom was topped with an open semi-circular dome covered with metallic scaled shakes. In 1945, the dome was enclosed from below. Axel Edward Soderberg was commissioned to paint murals depicting "Law and Justice", commerce, mining, and logging, at a cost of $1,500 in 1905. The jail and residence building were razed in the 1990s.

National Register of Historic Places - Lake County Courthouse and Sheriff's Residence

Statement of Significance:

The Lake County Courthouse and Sheriff's Residence are significant as first-and-second-generation government buildings which have served as the seat of Lake County government since their construction in c.1887 and 1906, and as representative examples of late 19th century Queen Anne and early 20th century Beaux Arts style public buildings.

Lake County was established in 1856. Beaver Bay, platted in 1856 and located 34 miles north of Two Harbors, was designated the county seat. In 1884, Two Harbors, which derives its name from Agate and Burlington Bays, became the terminus of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad Company, which linked the Vermilion Range mines to the ore docks on Lake Superior, a distance of 72 miles. Because of Two Harbors' strategic location, the county seat was moved from Beaver Bay. A two-story frame Queen Anne style courthouse was constructed that year; and it is probable the two story, brick Queen Anne style Sheriff's Residence was constructed at the same time.

In 1904 the courthouse burned and in January 1905, the county commissioners authorized a bond issue, and loan application of an amount not to exceed $85,000 for the construction of a new courthouse. The commissioners selected James Alien McLeod of St. Paul as architect, Pastoret and Lunz of Two Harbors as contractors, and Odin J. Oyen of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, for interior decoration. The building was completed in the spring of 1906.

The Lake County Sheriff's Residence and Courthouse significantly represent two generations of public building construction and the influence the iron mining operations and railroads had in determining the location of the county seat. The prominent location of the courthouse and its imposing architectural design reflect the efforts of the county to establish a sense of permanence for county government in Two Harbors.