in 1857, the first marquette county courthouse, a wooden greek revival structure, was built on this site. by the turn of the century, that structure had become inadequate. in 1902, voters approved the issuance of $120,000 worth of bonds to construct a new courthouse. the earlier structure was moved off the site, and the county hired marquette architect d. fred charlton (charlton, gilbert & demar/charlton & kuenzli) to design the building. northern construction company of milwaukee, wisconsin, was hired to construct the building. the county eventually spent $240,000 to complete the structure; it was completed in 1904.