Blue Earth County Courthouse

Infobox_nrhp | name =Blue Earth County Courthouse
nrhp_type =


caption =Blue Earth County Courthouse
location= Courthouse Sq.
Mankato, Minnesota
lat_degrees = 44 | lat_minutes = 9 | lat_seconds = 49.51 | lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 93 | long_minutes = 59 | long_seconds = 57.49 | long_direction = W
area =
built =1886
architect= Haley & Allen; Ring & Tobin
architecture= Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Other
added = July 28, 1980
governing_body = Local
mpsub=Blue Earth County MRA
refnum=80001940 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

The Blue Earth County Courthouse is the courthouse of Blue Earth County in the State of Minnesota. It is located in the city of Mankato, Minnesota, the county seat. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

The building, completed in 1886, was the second courthouse in the county. The first courthouse in the county, a 20-by-24 foot one-story stone building, was built in 1857. It served as the location for the trial of 392 Dakota Indians after the Sioux Uprising. Thirty-eight Dakota were executed in a simultaneous hanging in December, 1862.

By the late 1800s, the county commissioners felt that the previous buildings were a "disgrace and gave strangers that we were behind the times. That the county was either poverty stricken or greatly lacking in enterprise."cite book|title=Courthouses of Minnesota|last=Logue|first=Mary|coauthors=Douglas Ohman|year=2006|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|isbn=0-87351-550-1] The new building combined a French Second Empire roof and dome with Italianate features. The stone was provided by a local quarry, with various techniques giving it both rusticated and ashlar surfaces. The copper-sheathed dome is capped with a statue of Lady Justice.cite web|url=http://www.mncourts.gov/?siteID=0&page=CourtHouseProfile&ID=40006|title=Building Location Details: Blue Earth County Courthouse|publisher=Minnesota Judicial Branch|accessdate=2007-06-17]

References

External links

* [http://www.co.blue-earth.mn.us Blue Earth County web site]