Black Hawk County is named for Black Hawk, who was chief of the Fox and Sac Native American tribes and who was a leader in the Black Hawk War.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Bremer County
E – Buchanan County
S – Benton County and Tama County
W – Grundy County and Butler County
Created: February 17, 1843
County Seat:
Cedar Falls 1853 – 1855
Waterloo 1855 – present
County Courthouse – Waterloo
Location: 316 East 5th Street / Mulberry Street
Built: 1962 – 1964
Style: Modern
Architect: Toenjes-Stenson and Warm
Contractor: John G Miller Construction Company
Description: The building faces north west and is a four story glass, steel, polished stone and concrete structure. The rectangular shaped building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Waterloo. The northwest entrance has a brown colored polished stone section rising above the roof line. There are vertical brown polished stone sections around the building. The windows are horizontal with polished stone between the floors. The roof line is flat. In the interior are wide hallways. There are fourteen courtrooms located on the second and third stories. The County Magistrate Court courtroom is located along the southwest side of the first story. The building houses the County District Court of the 1B Judicial District.
See: The 1B Judicial District includes Buchanan County, Chickasaw County, Fayette County, Grundy County and Howard County.
History: The county was created in 1843 and administered by Delaware County, Benton County in 1845 and Buchanan County in 1851 until 1853 when Cedar Falls was designated as the county seat. The first courthouse was the Andrew Mullarky store at 1st Street and Main Street. In 1855, the county seat was moved to Waterloo and the second courthouse was a store owned by Julius Hubbard at West 5th Street and Commercial Street. The third courthouse was a two story structure built by Giles Tinker in 1855 at a cost of $27,000. The building was razed in 1907. The fourth courthouse was designed by Fremont D Orff and built by C E Atkinson in 1902 at a cost of $149,000. The fifth and present courthouse was constructed in 1962 to 1964 at a cost of $2,850,000.
County Courthouse – Waterloo
County District Court courtroom
County District Court courtroom
County Magistrate Court courtroom
Photos taken 2008 and 2024
Images 18*