Martin County Courthouse: The Dome on the Lake

Perched on a hill overlooking Fairmont and Lake Sisseton, the Martin County Courthouse has anchored this southern Minnesota prairie town since nineteen oh seven. Designed by architect Charles E. Bell and built for about one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars, the three-story Beaux Arts building mixes rusticated Michigan sandstone on the first floor with smooth Indiana limestone above.

Its copper dome, crowned by a four-faced clock, rises one hundred eight feet above the ground. When it was completed in nineteen oh seven, it became the proud centerpiece of the county. The courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains the seat of county government today.