It all started when…
… I needed a project to get myself out of a creative dead end as well as out of my house (it was the early part of the pandemic). I started visiting county courthouses near the Twin Cities and took only exterior shots. As the pandemic eased I traveled to other areas of the state during the week so I could go inside the buildings I was photographing.
My collection of some 2600 images showcases a timeline of architectural styles over more than 150 years of civic construction projects. One theme that has emerged: the majesty of late 19th century and early 20th century courthouse design. Meant to inspire and perhaps even to intimidate, buildings erected in the first one hundred years of statehood attest to a sense of civic pride, if not a more mundane need to expand services to growing communities or replace wooden structures that often ended up burning down.
Latter twentieth century and twenty-first century courthouses, especially those built after World War II, are often more utilitarian, devoid of architectural flourishes. But, judge for yourself. A sampling along with stories I have discovered along the way will be forthcoming.
