Historic Isanti County Courthouse - Cambridge, Minnesota - Minnesota Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Isanti County officers kept their records in their offices and homes scattered across Isanti County until 1871, when the first courthouse as built.

 The courthouse and jail, with its unsightly stockade, was condemned by the grand jury as the old courthouse had no proper protection for county records or adequate office space for county officials.

In 1887, the county commissioners recommended passage of an act authorizing the issuing of bonds for the purpose of building a courthouse and jail in the amount of $8,000.

D.O. Anderson offered to donate the land and P.J. Lind was to superintend the carpenter work.  He was instructed to strive to get all the room they could for the money to be expended.  The building was to be a plain, substantial building without unnecessary embellishments.  The total cost of the new courthouse was $6,993.  The jail was built the following year.

 Brick veneer and porch were added several years later, although the porch has since been removed.

The prominent feature of the building is the projection entrance pavilion, flat-topped tower with triangular dormer on each face.  The tower and steeply hipped roof of the building suggest the French Second Empire style.  The paired windows are tall with stone sills, indicating an Italianate influence.  The main roof is gray slate while the tower's roof is crimped tin.

The basement was remodeled in 1966 at a cost of $39,793 to provide a new jail, sheriff's office, and teletype room.  Although numerous improvements have been made over the years, the same structure remains today and is privately owned and used for business office space.