Historic 1883 Stutsman County Courthouse Renovations Funded by Estate Gift

Workers are inside Jamestown's oldest courthouse right now, and by July 1 they will have added something the 1883 Stutsman County Courthouse has never had: a modern heating and cooling system, a new roof, and a clock tower observation deck open to the public.

The State Historical Society of North Dakota announced the renovation project March 12, with funding drawn entirely from the estate of George Spangler. No dollar figure for the gift has been disclosed, but the scope of work is substantial. Planned improvements include installing the new HVAC system, replacing the roof, restoring the Press Gallery overlooking the courtroom, and rebuilding the clock tower interior with new stairs, railings, and landings so visitors can climb to an observation deck for the first time.

Most of the construction is concentrated in the basement, which will remain closed to visitors through the project. The site's escape room is also shut down during construction, and some additional rooms may be temporarily inaccessible. The rest of the building stays open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with both self-guided and guided tours continuing on the regular schedule. During summer months from Memorial Weekend Saturday through Labor Day, the site extends to daily hours in that same 9-to-5 window. Site Supervisor Kyle Nelson can be reached at 701-328-1883 or shs1883courthouse@nd.gov for questions.

The courthouse at 504 Third Ave. SE sits atop the tallest hill in Jamestown, a three-story red brick building designed by Wisconsin architect Henry C. Koch and completed in less than a year in 1883, six years before North Dakota achieved statehood. Koch built nothing else in North Dakota. The building is one of only two county courthouses in the state in the Gothic Revival style and holds the most complete collection of pressed tin interior walls in North Dakota and possibly the Midwest. Its historical weight goes beyond architecture: delegates to the state's constitutional convention were elected there, and meetings were held inside in 1885 to debate the division of Dakota Territory.

The Jamestown Alert captured the community's pride in July 1882, while the building was still under construction: "They are building for the generation to come, though before that time we expect to have a capitol building and supreme court long before the venerable gray shall streak the locks of our young men. But we are too busy now with our court house to build a state house."

That enthusiasm curdled a century later. When Stutsman County moved into a new courthouse in 1983, the 1883 building was abandoned and county commissioners voted to demolish it for a parking lot. Local citizens fought back, and after 15 years of legal battles, ownership transferred to the State Historical Society in 1987. Restoration has been ongoing since: in the 1990s, nearly one million dollars was raised to repair the exterior. More recently, $400,000 went into interior rehabilitation work.

The Spangler estate gift now funds the next chapter. Construction updates are posted to the 1883 Stutsman County Courthouse State Historic Site Facebook page. An upcoming Living History Weekend focused on the North Dakota National Guard in World War II is also on the site's 2026 calendar; a full events listing is available at history.nd.gov/events.