Jasper County

US States / H-L / Iowa / Jasper County
Jasper

Jasper County is named for William Jasper, who was a Sergeant in the American Revolutionary War.

 

Surrounding County Courthouses: 

N – Story County and Marshall County

E – Poweshiek County

S – Mahaska County and Marion County

W – Polk County

 

Created:  January 13, 1846                    Map of Iowa highlighting Jasper County

County Seat:

Newton  1846 – present

 

County Courthouse – Newton

 

Location:  101 1st Street North / 1st Avenue East

Built:  1909 – 1911

Style:  Neo-Classical or Beaux Arts

Architect:  Proudfoot & Bird of Des Moines

Contractor:  James Rowson & Son

 

Description: The building faces north and is a three story Indiana limestone and concrete structure with modified Georgian Colonial detail. The building is located on landscaped rounds in the center of Newton. The first story is horizontal stone with the north entrance having a small balcony above. Four large columns rise from the second story to the top of the third story. A cornice projects below the roof line. On the roof centre rises a large octagonal dome with clock and round dome. In the interior, the building has a cross hall plan and is decorated with ceramic tile and marble wainscoting. The rotunda has paintings, by Edgar Cameron of Chicago in the four arches of the pendentive dome of the rotunda. Two stairways lead to the second story, which contains the Grand Courtroom and jury rooms. The courtroom is thirty-seven by forty-seven feet, and nineteen feet high. The building houses the County District Court of the 5A Judicial District. the supervisor was Norman A Price. The building was renovated in 1986 and in 2011. In 2022 further restoration work was completed by Evergreen Architectural Ats.

 

Note:  On the second floor at each side of the rotunda are two Doric columns, eight in all, between which hallways lead to the suites of office rooms. The third floor is similar to the second, the marble columns being of the more ornate ionic design. Above these columns, in the four arches of the pendentive dome of the rotunda, are four emblematic paintings, by Edgar Cameron of Chicago, and each are illustrative of some incident in Jasper County’s history. On the south side is a scene of a prairie fire and a herd of buffalo: on the east is a group of United States soldiers, camped on the banks of the Skunk River, west of Newton in the 1840′s: on the north a scene of the departing Indian and the coming of the white man, his cabin and domestic surroundings; and, on the west may be seen the town square, courthouse, and soldier boys leaving for the front in Civil War days, and the teams and the relatives of the newly enlisted men, with waving flags, as they bid home and loved ones “good-bye”. These paintings are all genuine works of art and add materially to the charm of the building.

 

See:  The contractor, James Rowson and Son, also constructed courthouses in Dallas County and Johnson County.

 

See:  The 5A Judicial District includes Dallas County, Guthrie County, Madison County, Marion County and Warren County.

 

See:  National register of Historic Places – Jasper County Courthouse

 

History:  The county was created in 1846 and Newton was selected as the county seat. The court met in the home of Matthew D Springer in 1846. The first courthouse was built of green native lumber by Evan Adamson at a cost of $87.50 in 1847. The second courthouse was a two story structure built by John Hyde in 1857 at a cost of $26,000. The first courthouse was sold to Caleb Lamb and removed to his farm near Newton. The third and present courthouse was constructed in 1909 to 1911 at a cost of $200,000.

 

 

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County Courthouse – Newton

 

 

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Photos taken 2008 and 2012