Benton County is named for Thomas Hart Benton, who was a United States Senator from Missouri.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Black Hawk County and Buchanan County
E – Linn County
S – Iowa County
W – Tama County
Created: December 21, 1837
County Seat:
Vinton 1838 – present
County Courthouse – Vinton
Location: 111 East 4th Street / 1st Avenue Street
Built: 1905 – 1906
Style: Beaux Arts
Architect: C E Bell and M S Detweiler
Contractor: George Rickman and Sons Company
Description: The building faces south and is a three story Buckeye buff colored sandstone and concrete structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Vinton. The first story or basement level has a high foundation of rusticated Kettle River sandstone while the rest of the building is made of dressed blocks of gray colored Buckeye sandstone. The center section projects from the main building and has an arched entrance on the first story. Stone banding separates each story from the other as does the treatment of each level’s window openings. There is a large arched window on the third story with pediment above. The east and west wings also project. On the center of the roof is a high square clock tower rising 112 feet with cupola at the top. In the interior is a central rotunda rising from the spacious entrance lobby. The top of the rotunda contains murals. The staircase on the north side rises to the third story. The County District Court courtroom is located along the east side of the third story and the County Magistrate Court courtroom is located at the northeast corner of the third story. The building houses the County District Court of the 6th Judicial District and the County Magistrate Court. During construction, the superintendent was J A Murphy.
Note: There are 3 murals painted inside the courthouse and date to when the courthouse was built. No record of the artist exists. The East mural is the old Urbana bridge, the South mural is the old Belle Plaine bridge and the West mural is the old Vinton bridge. The murals were restored in 1991.
See: The architect, C E Bell and M S Detweiler of Minneapolis, Minnesota designed many courthouses.
See: National Register of Historic Places – Benton County Courthouse
See: The 6th Judicial District includes Iowa County, Johnson County, Jones County, Linn County and Tama County.
History: The county was created in 1937 and Vinton was selected as the county seat in 1838. The first courthouse was a log structure built in 1838. The second courthouse was a two story frame structure built in 1851 and destroyed by fire before completion in 1853. The third courthouse was a brick structure designed and constructed by John Tyler in 1856 to 1857 at a cost of #13,000. The fourth and present courthouse was constructed in 1905 to 1906 at a cost of $105,000.
County Courthouse – Vinton
County District Court courtroom
County Magistrate Court courtroom
Photos taken 2008 and 2024
Images 25*