Aitkin County Courthouse (1930s)
(Scroll down to read the history of this building.)
Prior to the building of Aitkin's first formal courthouse in 1888, the county leased a schoolhouse for court proceedings. In 1887, Alexander Grant was awarded the construction contract to build the first courthouse based on his low bid of $13,200. The Pauley Jail Building Co. submitted plans for the jail. One of the state's 24 legally sanctioned hangings took place there in 1903 when Ole G. Olsson was executed for killing his daughter. In 1920, a grand jury reported the 32-year-old building to be dangerous and "falling apart." County commissioners began planning for a new courthouse, but an injunction prevented the county board from issuing construction bonds. A new building was finally built in 1929 on the site of the old courthouse after commisisioners spread the building's debt over 10 years in advance of construction. (source: http://www.mncourts.gov/?page=34&id=40002)