Disagreement over the location of the county seat delayed the building of any courthouse until Granite Falls won the county seat fight in 1874. The residents of Granite Falls contributed the land and a building for use as the first courthouse in 1876. In 1889, they donated part of the cost of the current building.
Completed in 1889, the courthouse is a light brick and stone Romanesque Revival building designed by Frederick E. Hoover. The $14,768 building has been remodeled, modernized and added to in 1942, 1956, 1967, and 1975 at a cost of $518,716.
Historical information adapted from "The First 100 Years... The Minnesota State Bar Association."Return to Yellow Medicine County District Court