Adams County Courthouse Fire: Iowa Time Machine February 1, 1888

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On February 1, 1888, a fire destroyed the Adams County Courthouse in Corning. The blaze reduced the two-story wooden structure to ashes, taking with it irreplaceable records.

Adams County had only recently found its administrative footing when disaster struck. The county seat had moved from Quincy to the railroad town of Corning in 1872. Local citizens erected a frame courthouse that same year, a modest two-story building that served the needs of a farming community still carving out a place on the prairie. The county jail, constructed in 1877, stood nearby. For sixteen years, this wooden courthouse witnessed land disputes, criminal trials, property transfers, and all the legal machinery that binds a community together. County clerks stored marriage certificates, birth records, deeds, and court proceedings within their walls, creating an archive of life in early Adams County.

The cause of the fire remains a mystery, even today. The flames moved with terrifying speed through the wooden structure. Within 120 minutes, the building collapsed into smoking ruins. County officials faced an immediate crisis beyond the loss of their workspace. While some records survived, others vanished forever in the conflagration, erasing portions of the county's documented history. The county jail, standing separate from the courthouse, escaped destruction. In the aftermath, displaced county workers set up shop in various business buildings around Corning's downtown square.

Residents began considering the future almost immediately. On November 5, 1889, voters approved a bond issue of up to $30,000 to construct a proper replacement. By June 20, 1890, a handsome brick structure in the Romanesque Revival style rose on the same site, designed by architect S.E. Maxon at a final cost of $28,183. Modern Adams County officials work in the building's fourth incarnation, a mid-century structure from 1955 that replaced the 1890 courthouse after its roof collapsed during renovations. #Iowa #OTD #History #Power #County