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Historic Blue Earth County Courthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Blue Earth County Courthouse from the northwest
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Interactive map showing the location of Blue Earth County Courthouse
Location	204 S. 5th St., Mankato, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°9′49″N 93°59′57″W / 44.16361°N 93.99917°W / 44.16361; -93.99917
Built	1886–9
Architect	Haley & Allen; Ring & Tobin
Architectural style	Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals
MPS	Blue Earth County MRA
NRHP reference No.	80001940
Added to NRHP	July 28, 1980

The Blue Earth County Historic Courthouse is the former courthouse of Blue Earth County, Minnesota, United States, in the city of Mankato, the county seat. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Court services were moved from the Historic Courthouse to the Blue Earth County Justice Center, located at 401 Carver Rd, Mankato, Minnesota in 2009.

History

The building, completed in 1889, 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.

According to local Welsh-language poet James D. Price, whose Bardic name was "Ap Dewi", the first Eisteddfod held in Mankato took place at the Blue Earth County Courthouse on January 1, 1873.

By the mid 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." At this time, there was a debate on whether to relocate the county seat to Garden City or have it remain in Mankato.

After much debate, a building was started in 1886. The new building, designed by Minneapolis architects Haley & Allen, combined a 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.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. ^ Logue, Mary; Douglas Ohman (2006). Courthouses of Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society. ISBN 0-87351-550-1.
3. Translated by Martha A. Davies (2015), History of the Welsh in Minnesota, Foreston, and Lime Springs, Iowa, Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project. Wymore, Nebraska. Pages 131.
4. "The Court-House Question". The Mankato Review. February 23, 1886.
5. "Building Location Details: Blue Earth County Courthouse". Minnesota Judicial Branch. Retrieved 2007-06-17.

External links

• Blue Earth County web site

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
Lists by county	Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Brown Carlton Carver Cass Chippewa Chisago Clay Clearwater Cook Cottonwood Crow Wing Dakota Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Hennepin Houston Hubbard Isanti Itasca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson Koochiching Lac qui Parle Lake Lake of the Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon Mahnomen Marshall Martin McLeod Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison Mower Murray Nicollet Nobles Norman Olmsted Otter Tail Pennington Pine Pipestone Polk Pope Ramsey Red Lake Redwood Renville Rice Rock Roseau St. Louis Scott Sherburne Sibley Stearns Steele Stevens Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Washington Watonwan Wilkin Winona Wright Yellow Medicine
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks Voyageurs National Park
Keeper of the Register History of the National Register of Historic Places Property types Historic district Contributing property

• Buildings and structures in Blue Earth County, Minnesota
• Clock towers in Minnesota
• County courthouses in Minnesota
• Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota
• Italianate architecture in Minnesota
• Mankato, Minnesota
• National Register of Historic Places in Blue Earth County, Minnesota
• Welsh-American culture in Minnesota
• 1889 establishments in Minnesota