They were five sisters from the earliest days of the our valley cities. Each of them stood as gleaming white palaces to justice, but only one remains today. On this addition of KVPR's Central Valley Roots, we look back at valley courthouses from the past.
1966 newspaper images showing the dome of the historic Fresno County Courthouse crashing to the ground still elicit a strong response from people today. Despite a years-long fight to save the building, county supervisors finally got their way, and demolished the landmark, claiming it was unsafe. The loss of the picturesque building, which resembled a smaller version of the California State Capitol helped ignited a historic preservation movement in the city.
But about an hour north of Fresno, in Merced, you can see what the old Fresno Courthouse once looked like. That’s because the Merced County Courthouse was a near twin to Fresno’s, prior to several expansion of the Fresno structure.
In fact, Fresno, Merced, Tulare, Kern and Stanislaus Counties all had remarkably similar courthouses, built from 1872 to 1876. All were designed in the "Italianate" style by architect Albert A. Bennett, who was one of the architects of the California State Capitol. The five valley courthouses designed by Bennett were all three stories tall, with tall, narrow windows with arched tops. They had exteriors clad in Corinthian columns with carved statuary near the roofline. With the exception of the Stanislaus County Courthouse in Modesto, each had a central decorative cupola.
The earthquakes of 1952 damaged the Kern and Tulare County structures, which were then torn down. The Stanislaus County Courthouse was demolished in 1957, and Fresno’s lasted until April 1966 when a demolition crew struggled to bring down the supposedly unsafe building. Today the historic Merced County Courthouse is a museum, and a beautiful glimpse at the valley’s early days.
