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Overview

The Aberdeen, WA, architect Watson Vernon, designed this much-contested courthouse, whose location was fought for by the cities of Montesano and Aberdeen, WA.

Building History

Watson Vernon (1868-1957) worked with the Seattle-based building contractors Sylliasen and Sando on the design and construction of the Grays Harbor County Courthouse #2. Work on the building began in 10/1909, and a cornerstone was laid by 04/1910. Vernon elected to clad the building in Tenino Sandstone, transported at some cost from quarries 50 minutes away in Tenino. WA. In total, the courthouse cost approximately $193,000 to erect, when completed in 1911.

Artists Franz Edward Rohrbeck (1852–1919) and Franz Biberstein (1850-1930), who came from Germany and Switzerland respectively, worked for the firm of Associated Artists of Milwaukee, a contractor responsible for painting four allegorical murals located inside the building's dome. Associated Artists of Milwaukee was operated by German immigrant Conrad Schmitt (1867-1940), who came to the US in and this firm was responsible for the painting of murals in many courthouses, chuches and other public buildings located primarily in the Midwestern states of MN, MI, and WI, but examples of their work can be found farther afield in Anaconda, MT, (Deer Lodge County Courthouse), Winnipeg, MB, (Saint Mary's Cathedral) and the courthouse in Montesano.

Building Notes

Tel: 360.249.5311 (2016).

PCAD id: 20047