SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA MARIPOSA COUNTY

Location: 5088 Bullion Street, Mariposa CA 95388
Constructed: 1854
Architect: Perrin V.  Fox
Current Use: Courthouse – Oldest Courthouse in California and Oldest Continuing Operating Courthouse West of the Rocky Mountains. 
National Register of Historic Places: 1977
California Historical Landmark: No. 670

The Mariposa County Superior Courthouse is a simple Greek Revival structure featuring a two- story whitewood exterior, symmetrical windows with shutters and a prominent front pediment. A square clock tower or cupola was added in 1866 to house an English made clock shipped from Cape Horn. The interior retains original hand planned woodwork, benches, and a historic pot-bellied stove in the second-floor courtroom. The court has conducted normal proceedings continuously in this courthouse since 1854. It is the oldest courthouse in California and the longest active courthouse West of the Rocky Mountains. The architect was Perrin V. Fox, and the courthouse architecture reflects his New England roots. Fox and his construction partner A. F. Shriver used local materials, slate rock for the foundation and pine from a forest one mile away.

Mariposa County is located adjacent to the San Joaquin Valley within the western side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It has 14148 square miles of land area and has an approximate population of 17,000. Mariposa was formed in September 1850 even before California became the 31st state of the union. Four years later the Mariposa County Courthouse was built in the center of the town of Mariposa. The courthouse has no jury room; jurors deliberate in the jury box.

Mariposa is best known as the gateway to Yosemite National Park and as a well-preserved 19th Century Gold Rush town. It offers small town charm and mountain scenery. It has a Giant Sequoias Grove. The town of Mariposa has only 1100 people. Its historic downtown has many structures preserved from the 1850s. Mariposa is 31 miles from Yosemite Valley.

SOURCES:

California Supreme Court Historical Society www.cschs.org

COURTHOUSES OF CALIFORNIA, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY Ed. © Ray McDevitt

(California Historical Society 2001)

1977 National Registry of Historic Places Nomination Form

California State Parks Website: ohp.parks.ca.gov

Yosemite National Park www.Yosemite.com