Knox County Courthouse (Maine)

The Knox County Courthouse stands on the west side of downtown Rockland, occupying most of a city block bounded by Union, Masonic, High, and Limerock Streets. It is a roughly U-shaped building, three stories in height. Most of the building is a modern steel-framed structure, its exterior finished in brick. The original 1874 courthouse forms the northeastern leg of the U. It is three stories in height, set on a high granite foundation. Its main entrance is accessed via a flight of granite stairs, and is sheltered by a rectangular porch supported by round stone Doric columns and square pilasters. The porch is capped by a balustrade with urned posts. The windows on the first two floors are set in ornate round-arch and segmented-arch openings.[2]

Knox County was separated from adjacent Lincoln County in 1860, with Rockland as its county seat. County offices were in the early years dispersed in a commercial buildings, and were eventually centralized into a single building. This being judged inadequate, the county in 1874 retained Boston architect Gridley James Fox Bryant to design the present building. Gridley was assisted by Lewis P. Rogers, also a Boston architect. The building was constructed at a cost of $83,000, well over the anticipated $50,000 cost,[2] and opened for business in 1875. The modern addition to the rear and side were built in 1978.[3]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Maine