Jerauld County is named for H A Jerauld of Canton who was a legislator in 1883.
Surrounding County Courthouses:
N – Hand County and Beadle County
E – Sanborn County
S – Aurora County and Brule County
W – Buffalo County
Created: April 17, 1883
County Seat:
Wessington Springs 1883 – present
County Courthouse – Wessington Springs
Location: 205 South Wallace Street / 1st Street Southeast
Built: 1930 – 1931
Style: Art Deco
Architect: Perkins & McWayne of Sioux Falls
Contractor: Majerus Company of Watertown
Description: The building faces east and is a three story concrete, red colored brick and asphalt structure. The rectangular shaped building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of Wessington Springs. The base is gray colored concrete. The center portion of the building is higher than the south and north wings. On the east front, concrete-work surrounds the windows. The entrance has a concrete protruding portico. Broad gray colored stonework runs along the south and north roof lines. The roof line is flat. In the interior, the central corridor runs east-west. The east leg of the corridor houses the main entry on the first story and the west leg houses a double return staircase. The interior is elaborately decorated with beige-colored marble wainscoting. The plaster above the wainscoting is struck to appear like stone. The ornamental plaster cornice on first and second stories is an Art Nouveau-style with a border of high-relief vessels containing floral arrangements. The vessels are connected by ribbons in a four-pointed, star-shaped pattern and separated by recessed inverted triangles. The third story corridors are lined with recessed, paneled wood wainscoting. The ornamental plaster cornice is Art Deco. The third story County Circuit Court courtroom is lined with a recessed, paneled wood wainscoting and the doors and paneled area behind the judge’s bench are topped with flat entablature moldings. The courtroom railing is composed of tightly spaced turned-wood balusters with Colonial-Revival finials rising from the newel posts. There are original furnishings. The building houses the County Circuit Court of the 3rd Judicial District and the County Magistrate Court.
See: National Register of Historic Places – Jerauld County Courthouse
See: The 3rd Judicial Circuit includes Beadle County, Brookings County, Clark County, Codington County, Deuel County, Grant County, Hamlin County, Hand County, Kingsbury County, Lake County, Miner County, Moody County and Sanborn County.
History: The county was created in 1883 and Wessington Springs was selected as the count seat. The first courthouse was designed and built by Samuel Marlenee in 1885 at a cost of $2,000. The cost of construction of the present courthouse was $131,457. Kelley Plumbing of Aberdeen did the plumbing and heating and Johnson Service Company did the temperature control. Other contracts were awarded to Crane Plumbing for plumbing fixtures, Carl Hassenstein for brick, Western Venetian Blind Company for linoleum, G & G Company for electric fixtures, Stewart Iron Works for jail fixtures and Will A Beach & Company for furniture.
County Courthouse – Wessington Springs
County Circuit Court courtroom
Photos taken 2006 and 2016
Images 13*