April 28, 2017
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society
Today’s
program is another look at an historic building in downtown Junction City. The information also comes from the free
pamphlet titled “A Walking Tour”, which is available at our Museum at the
corner of Sixth and Adams Street.
The building we will share about this morning is the
Geary County Courthouse located at 138 East Eighth Street. The Roman Revival building was commissioned
May 20, 1899 and completed in May of 1900 at a cost of $35,000. It was built by the firm of Ziegler and
Dalton of magnesium limestone quarried in nearby bluffs. The stone was so soft it could be hand sawed
by the German and Swedish masons of the area.
The architect, J. C. Holland, had designed similar courthouses elsewhere
in Kansas, including Manhattan and Clay Center.
Extensive remodeling of the interior was completed in 1999. We have a picture on the first floor of our
Museum as the Courthouse was being built. In the foreground you will see the
loose stone and at the very top of the building a man working without safety
protection from falling and no scaffolding.
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