Lincoln County is named for Abraham Lincoln, who was a member of Congress from Illinois from 1847 to 1849 and President of the United States from 1861 to 1865.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
E – Lyon County
S – Pipestone County
W – Brookings County, South Dakota and Deuel County, South Dakota
Created: March 6, 1873 
County Seat:
Marshfield 1873 – 1883
Lake Benton 1883 – 1901
Ivanhoe 1901 – 1903
Lake Benton 1903 – 1904
Ivanhoe 1904 – present
County Courthouse – Ivanhoe
Location: 319 North Rebecca Street / West Saxon Street
Built: 1918 – 1919
Style: Classical Revival
Architect: C Howard Parson of Minneapolis
Contractor: Madsen and Peterson of Minneapolis.
Description: The building faces faces east and is a three story gray colored stone and concrete structure. The building is located on spacious landscaped grounds on the west side of the center of Ivanhoe. The building is constructed of smooth bluff Kasota limestone and Kettle River sandstone. A projecting central pavilion on the east front is centered by a high portico with smooth Ionic columns that reach two stories to a pediment on which a stone eagle rests. The first story is sandstone coursed in horizontal bands to form a base form the levels above, which are divided into bays by shallow pilasters. A wide frieze is topped by a cornice and stone parapet. The interior has marble finishing. There are the original lighting fixtures and the stenciling in the County District Court courtroom on the second story. The building houses the County District Court of the 5th Judicial District.
See: National Register of Historic Places – Lincoln County Courthouse
See: The 5th Judicial District includes Blue Earth County, Brown County, Cottonwood County, Faribault County, Jackson County, Lyon County, Martin County, Murray County, Nicolett County, Nobles County, Pipestone County, Redwood County, Rock County and Watonwan County.
History: The county was created in 1873 and Marshfield was selected as the county seat. The first court was held in a store building in Marshfield in 1873. The county seat was moved to Lake Benton in 1883 and s building was rented from the Chicago Northwestern Railroad as the first courthouse in 1887. In 1901 the county seat was moved to Ivanhoe and the second courthouse was the Wilson Opera House. In 1903, the county seat was moved back to Lake Benton and ten returned to Ivanhoe in 1904. The third courthouse was a two story brick structure designed by A J Van Duesen of Winona and built by Bartleson and Kringler of Lake Miller, Iowa, at a cost of $11,695 originally as a jail in 1904. The fourth and present courthouse was constructed in 1918 to 1919 at a cost of $200,000.
County Courthouse – Ivanhoe
County District Court courtroom
Commissioner’s Meeting Room
Photos taken 2007 and 2017