Churchill County Courthouse
10 Williams St., Fallon, NVThe Churchill County Courthouse is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criterion A for its association with the historical development Churchill county and the City of Fallon and under criterion for the architectural significance of the Courthouse. The Courthouse has continuously housed county government offices since 1903. The simple Neo-Classical style, public structure is one of the most substantial buildings in Churchill County and is one of two surviving frame courthouses in Nevada.
The Nevada Territorial government established Churchill County on November 25, 1861. In 1864, La Plata, a mining camp in the southern foothills of the Silver Hill Range became the county's first seat as it organized its government. Its courthouse was a dwelling acquired for seven hundred dollars. By 1867, the La Plata mining boom was played out and the county seat was moved to Stillwater. There, in 1869, the county erected a two story structure in Stillwater. Unfortunately, officials failed to gain clear title to the land. In 1883, the rightful property owner evicted the county which was forced to building another courthouse in Stillwater.
Like La Plata, Stillwater failed to live up to expectations. Throughout the later part of the nineteenth century, the county suffered a steady decline in population. In 1890s, the town's importance to the future of the region was overshadowed by the federal government's plan under the Newland's Project to reclaim two hundred thousand acres of desert in the Lahontan Valley for agricultural use. In response to this, the Churchill County seat was moved in 1903 from Stillwater to Fallon.
There, the County Commissioners immediately initiated plans for the construction of a new courthouse. They accepted the design of Reno architect Ben Leon. W.B. Wyrick of Fallon constructed the frame structure for $7,300.
The Stillwater courthouse, as will all previous Churchill County Courthouses, was demolished. The Churchill County courthouse in Fallon is, therefore, the oldest surviving courthouse in Churchill County. It is also one of two frame courthouses to survive in Nevada: the other in Ely (White Pine County) has been altered for use in a hospital complex. It is the only frame courthouse in Nevada which continues to serve county administrative offices. It is also the only frame courthouse ever built in Nevada based on an architect's design and which follow a well developed architectural program.
The Churchill County courthouse is significant as the oldest surviving center of County government and as a well designed application of Neo-Classical style architecture to frame construction in a public building.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.