Marquette County Courthouse

This Neoclassical Revival structure, designed by Charlton and Gilbert of Marquette, was constructed in 1902-04 at a cost of $210,000. Built of local sandstone, it is the second courthouse to occupy this site. In a case tried here in 1913, President Theodore Roosevelt won a libel suit against Ishpeming newspaper publisher George Newett and was awarded six cents, “the price of a good newspaper.” Another case tried here inspired Anatomy of a Murder, a novel by Ishpeming resident John D. Voelker. In 1959 the courthouse was the setting of the motion picture based on the novel. The picture was directed by Otto Preminger and the musical score for the movie was written by Duke Ellington. The courthouse was renovated in 1982-84 at a cost of $2.4 million.