The Person:
From Wikipedia entry on William Henry Harrison:
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"William Henry Harrison Sr. (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer, a principal contributor in the War of 1812, and the ninth president of the United States (1841). He was the last president born before the American Revolution, and died of pneumonia just 31 days into his term, thereby serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. He was the first president to die in office, and his death sparked a brief constitutional crisis. Its resolution left unsettled Constitutional questions as to the presidential line of succession until the passage of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1967. Harrison was a son of Founding Father Benjamin Harrison V and in turn was the paternal grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd United States President (1889–1893).
Before election as president, Harrison served as the first congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory and the first Governor of Indiana Territory. He gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against Native Americans at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, where he earned the nickname "Old Tippecanoe". He was promoted to major general in the subsequent War of 1812, and served in the Battle of the Thames the following year. This battle resulted in the death of Tecumseh and the dissolution of the Native American coalition which Tecumseh had led.
After the war, Harrison moved to Ohio, where he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. In 1824, the state legislature elected him to the United States Senate. He served a truncated term after being appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia in May 1828. In Santa Fe de Bogotá, he spoke with president Simón Bolívar, urging Bolívar to guide his nation toward American-style democracy. Harrison returned to private life on his farm in Ohio until he was nominated for the presidency as one of several Whig Party candidates in the election of 1836. He received more votes than any other Whig, but was defeated by Democrat Martin Van Buren, and returned again to his farm.
Van Buren soon became a major target of criticism from the Whigs following the Panic of 1837. Seeking to run a non-controversial and less ideological war hero who could defeat Van Buren based on popularity, a unified Whig Party nominated Harrison over party founder Henry Clay and fellow general Winfield Scott. John Tyler of Virginia was selected as his running mate, and Harrison and Tyler defeated Van Buren in the 1840 election. At the time, he was the oldest president ever elected. However, Harrison died of pneumonia in April 1841, at the age of 68, a month after taking office. Tyler then assumed the presidency, setting a major precedent. Due to the short length of Harrison's presidency, scholars and historians often forgo listing him in rankings of U.S. presidents."
The Place:
From the Wikipedia page for Harrison County, Iowa:
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"Harrison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,928. The county seat is Logan. The county was formed in 1851. It was named for ninth US President William Henry Harrison.
Harrison County is included in the Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 702 square miles (1,820 km2), of which 697 square miles (1,810 km2) is land and 4.8 square miles (12 km2) (0.7%) is water."
The Courthouse:
From the National Register Application:
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The early records of Harrison County were destroyed in September
of 1854 by a fire in the first crude log cabin used as a courthouse. The cause of this fire at Magnolia, the first county seat, remains unknown. Shortly after the fire, a small frame structure, two stories high, was erected for the purpose of housing county records and conducting county business. In 1873 the building was condemned by the authorities as unsafe and a new building was ordered to accommodate county records and county officials until 1876 when the courthouse was moved to Logan.
The first courthouse at Logan was a brick structure, 55 by 70 feet
and two stories high, which was completed in 1876. The total cost was $14,000, $5,000 of which was appropriated by the board of supervisors and $9,000 of which was donated by the people of Logan.
As early as 1890, citizens of the county realized that a new courthouse would soon be necessary to serve the growing needs of the county. In January of 1905, an architect from Omaha was secured to estimate the cost of repairing the old courthouse and building a new one. When the estimate was submitted to the board of supervisors, it informed them that over $14,000 would be necessary to repair the old structure and attach the necessary additions. The cost of a new building would be nearly six times that much. The question of a new courthouse was put to the electors of the county several tunes before it met with success. After the old courthouse was condemned in January of 1909, the county voted to sell bonds to raise money for a new building.
The cornerstone of the present courthouse was laid on October 5,
1910. The building is 100 feet by 72 feet and the top of its dome sits 77 feet above the street. The stone courthouse is made of 672,000 bricks and had a total cost of about $103,000.