Wapello County Courthouse
Iowa
The buff sandstone courthouse rising over downtown Ottumwa has been the center of Wapello County government since eighteen ninety-four. The Romanesque building, designed by the firm Foster and Liebbe, is Richardsonian Romanesque, built of rough-cut sandstone.
Look closely above the main entrance: a carved figure of Fox Indian Chief Wapello stands above the main entrance. The county and city take their names from him, a leader of the Meskwaki and Sauk peoples who signed treaties with the United States in the eighteen thirties. The original design included a large clock tower, but in nineteen fifty the tower and spire were removed for safety reasons. The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in nineteen eighty-one.
