601 Third Avenue Two Harbors , MN - View Map: The first formal
courthouse of Lake County was a wooden building built in Two
Harbors in 1887. It served citizens until 1904, when it burned
to the ground. Luckily, most county records were rescued. The
courthouse built in 1905 to replace the original courthouse has
been called a "sophisticated version of a City Beautiful
courthouse." The formally composed academic style building was
designed by James Allen MacLeod and built at a cost of $80,000.
The low dome, seen in the picture above, has a silvery fish-
scale metal helmet. A mural called "Angel of Justice" once
decorated the inside of the dome. Construction crews concealed
the mural when a lowered ceiling was installed in the courtroom
in 1945. However, the 10 by 15 foot canvas mural, was removed,
restored, and placed in the main corridor as a bicentennial
project in 1976. The Lake County Courthouse, seen above in 1906,
was built a year prior in Two Harbors, named for its twin
harbors of Burlington Bay and Agate