This photo has always been a favorite of mine. The perspective, the lighting, the mood, the subject matter, all of it. There’s something about courthouses that can be very exciting… in a nostalgic sort of way.
A few years ago Missy and I went around the state and photographed different county courthouses. We focused mostly on courthouses built between 1880 and 1910 as that era produced the most interesting buildings. We noticed that the 1920s thru 1950s courthouses tended to be a more sparse design and feeling to them… almost sterile. Definitely boring and uninteresting.
The courthouse shown in the photo is the Benton County courthouse in Vinton, Iowa. It was completed in 1906 and cost $105,000 to build. It is the county’s third courthouse. According to history the first courthouse was a log structure and didn’t have a floor or roof, so they moved to a log home in inclement weather. Now, that’s funny!
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