County Courthouses from across the West

For some time now I have been taking photographs of county courthouses across the western United States. I find it interesting to see the different architectureal styles different counties selected when designing and building their signature buildings. Particularly in the rural counties, I have found that counties which constructed their buildings in the lat 1800s to early 1900s tended to build the classic, imposing buildings with a grand staircase leading up to imposing doors, and topping their building with a dome or other architectrueally unique or significant feature.


One of my favorite county courthouse images comes from Divide County in Northwestern North Dakota.

As you can see, this building has a towering entryway, is three stories tall and is topped with a white dome. 

In 1873 Wallette County, which included Divide County in the Dakota territory was created. However, it was never organized due to a lack of settlers. In 1883 Wallette Co was divided into Buford and Flannery Counties. In 1891 they became Williams County. In 1910 Williams was divided into Williams and Divide County.

The population in 1911 was about 6,000. It reached a peak of 9,627 in 1920. The population in 1997 was approximately 2,899. 

As of 2000, the population was 2,283. 

The County seat is Crosby named for S.A. Crosby of Portal, who first plotted the townsite.


The name Divide results from two factors, that division from Williams County and the fact that Divide County lies on the Continental Divide between the watersheds that flow into the Gulf of Mexico and those that flow into Hudson Bay.  Divide's name may also derive from the fact that it lies on the boundary between the United States and Canada

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,294 square miles (3,351.4 km²), of which 1,260 square miles (3,263.4 km²) is land and 35 square miles (90.6 km²) (2.68%) is water.