Alpine County was formed in 1864 following the
Comstock Lode discovery, partitioned from neighboring
Amador,
El Dorado,
Calaveras,
Mono, and
Tuolumne counties. At the time of the county's formation,
Silver Mountain City was the county seat and most populated town, but the mines were shuttered and Silver Mountain City was abandoned soon after
Congress demonetized silver in 1873. The county seat was moved to
Markleeville in 1874. Court was held in the Markleeville Odd Fellows Hall starting in 1875, with prisoners held in the Old Log Jail. Over the years, the courthouse served as the superior and municipal court for Alpine County, the district attorney's office, the sheriff's office, and the probation department. The current Alpine County Courthouse was originally completed in 1928 to serve as the firehouse and one-engine garage. It was designed by
Frederick J. DeLongchamps and built from locally quarried
rhyolite tuff blocks, quarried above nearby
Silver Mountain City, in the
Romanesque Revival style. Other stone used in the structure was taken from the ruins of the jail of
Silver Creek in
Plumas County. The building was originally intended to be a two-story structure but financial considerations limited it to one story; residents had passed a bond issue in 1927 to fund construction. In 1948 the basement of the courthouse was remodeled to provide additional storage space. The remodeling was overseen by Fenwick Irwin. In 1987, footage from the
CBS show
High Mountain Rangers was shot at the courthouse. The 1928 courthouse was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Proposed new courthouse Funding was authorized for a new Alpine County Courthouse in 2008 via California Senate Bill 1407, but plans were canceled in December 2011. ==References==