Wright County - American Courthouses

Wright County is named after Silas Wright, a New York salesman whose name was proposed as the county name.

Surrounding County Courthouses:

N – Stearns County and Sherburne County

E – Hennepin County

S – Carver County and McLeod County

W – Meeker County

Created: February 20, 1855

County Seat:

Monticello 1856 – 1867

Buffalo 1867 – present

County Justice Center – Buffalo

Location: 3700 Braddock Avenue NE / Highway 35

Built: 2018 – 2020

Style: Modern

Architect: Boarman Kroos Vogel Group

Contractor: Contegrity Group of Little Falls

Description: The building faces northwest and is a four story concrete, glass and steel structure. The rectangular shaped building is located on spacious landscaped grounds of the Wright County Government Complex in the north part of Buffalo. The building has vertical windows separated by vertical concrete dividers. The roof line is flat. In the interior is a high entrance lobby on the north side. There are nine County District Court courtrooms located along the southeast side of the hallways along the northwest side which have glass windows. The building houses the County District Court of the 10th Judicial District.

See: The 10th Judicial District includes Anoka County, Chisago County, Isanti County, Kanabec County and Washington County.

County Government Center – Buffalo

Location: 3650 Braddock Avenue NE / Highway 35

Built: 2018 – 2021

Style: Modern

Architect: Boarman Kroos Vogel Group

Contractor: Contegrity Group of Little Falls

Description: The building faces north and is a four story concrete, glass and steel structure. The rectangular shaped building is located to the southwest of the County Justice Center on spacious landscaped grounds of the Wright County Government Complex in the north part of Buffalo. The building has vertical windows separated by vertical concrete dividers. The north center section is glass with a canopy on the first story. The roof line is flat. In the interior is a lobby at the center of the first story.

Former County Courthouse (vacant) – Buffalo

Location: 10 2nd Street SW / Central Avenue

Built: 1959 – 1960

Style: Modern

Architect: Patch and Erickson of Minneapolis

Contractor: George Madsen Construction Company

Description: The building faces east and is a two story concrete, glass and steel structure. The building is located on sloped landscaped grounds in the center of Buffalo and has a low flat curtain wall of steel and glass on a stone veneered foundation. The entrance has four square columns with a recessed portico. In 1971 an addition was built and in 1974, a second addition was added. In 1980, a four story, brown steel paneled rectangular block was built. The architect was Birkeland Architects. In 1990, the building was remodeled joining the separate sections. The architect was BWBR Architects of Saint Paul and the contractor was Construction Analysis and Management of Fridley. The building presently stands vacant.

History: The county was created in 1855 and Monticello was selected as the county seat in 1856. The first court house was a building built as the Monticello Academy in Monticello and rented for county use. The county seat moved to Buffalo in 1867 and the second courthouse was a two story frame structure called “Samsel House”. The third courthouse was a two story brick structure designed by Bisbee Bardwell of Minneapolis and constructed by J V Daniel in 1878 at a cost of $27,634. The fourth and present courthouse was constructed in 1959 to 1960 at a cost of $655,000. The County Justice Center was constructed in 2018 to 2020 at a cost of $2,000,000.