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Building History

C. Lewis Wilson and Company designed this Beaux-Arts courthouse begun 10/01/1910 and completed 06/20/1911. A previous design went out for bids in 08/1909, but came in $10,000 over-budget and was scrapped. This plan, sans expensive marble and other interior finishes, was erected instead. One extravagance that the county paid for was the dome constructed of Tiffany art glass. The courthouse's final cost was $132,000, and the work was overseen by Pacific County Commissioners John R. Goutler, Ray Wheaton and Howard M. Wilson. The Pacific County Courthouse #2 replaced the first located in the "Upper Town" section of South Bend, WA, which operated from 1894-1911.

Building Notes

The Pacific County Courthouse was listed on both the Washington Historic Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Pacific County was the third formed in the Oregon Territory north of the Columbia River on 02/03/1851. The original county capital was Oysterville, but this was later shifted to South Bend following a popular vote in 1892. The courthouse was scaled like many small county courthouses of the era, and had the familiar tripartite front facade, with two wings on either side of a central portico. The paired classical columns and pilasters are typical of Beaux-Arts Style buildings. An inmate of the Pacific County Jail added murals on the interior of the courthouse in the 1940s and also provided faux marble painting for columns inside the rotunda.

Alteration

The dome was restored in the Spring 1980 for $144,700. A Public Safety Building was added to the rear of the courthouse between 09/1983-1985.