Milestones Icon: Boulder County Courthouse

Boulder County’s Courthouse at 1325 Pearl St. looks quite futuristic for a city that was founded in 1859.

In reality, it had two predecessors. The city’s first courthouse in 1867 was a small brick building at 1018 Pearl St., where the Camera building stands today.

In 1882 the county built a better courthouse building, where the current courthouse stands today. The Victorian-style building with mansard roofs was considered elaborate for a small pioneer town.

In 1932 a fire in the clock tower of the courthouse destroyed the building. There was debate at the time to move the county seat and courthouse to Longmont, but Boulder prevailed.

The new courthouse was completed in 1934 and still stands today. Built in the art-deco style of the time, the courthouse is much different than its predecessor or most any other courthouse in the United States. City officials saved the building’s original cornerstone and its historical contents – old newspapers and currency of the time – that were reincorporated into the new building’s cornerstone.

A young spruce pine tree was planted in 1882 with the old courthouse survived the fire and continued to be used as the county’s Christmas Tree for more than 100 years. It was cut down in 1993 because of age.

Several additions to the courthouse have been added throughout the years, and a lot of the county’s judicial business is now conducted at the Justice Center at Canyon Boulevard at Sixth Street.

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