About

This 1891 building served as Marshall County’s courthouse for nearly 90 years. By the 1950s, county officials thought it had outlived its usefulness and was too expensive to maintain. The Marshall County Historical Society took the lead in generating public support to save it in the 1970s. Eventually, the county built a new courthouse next door and in 1979 deeded the old courthouse to the Historical Society.

Since 1979, preservation and maintenace funds have come from grants, donations, and a trust fund set up by far-sighted Historical Society members.

In the first years of Historical Society ownership, the building continued to house some county offices as well as business tenants. Then, some of the rooms were converted to display the growing collection of county history artifacts. The museum gradually expanded to the current 18 display rooms. The building has several storage vaults with cast-iron doors and interior iron shutters. Today, a research library is maintained in the former Register of Deeds office. The courtroom has been the site of weddings, plays, mock trials, meetings and MCHS programs.