Residents of Mercer County have numerous treasures in buildings, but none as impressive as the county courthouse, a landmark since it's completion in 1912. The present courthouse is the third to serve the county, two earlier structures having been destroyed by fire.

   From the time the county was organized from a portion of Allegheny County on March 12, 1800, until February, 1804, judicial affairs were transacted in Meadville, Crawford County. From 1804 until 1807 court sessions were conducted in the home of Joseph Hunter, who received one dollar per day for use of his residence, and then in the log structure of Jacob Myers, on the north side of the public square.

   The first courthouse in the 460 feet by 330 feet square was built in 1807 at a cost of $7,116. The two storied brick building contained a courtroom on the first floor and three jury rooms on the second story. It was destroyed by fire in 1866.

   In 1867 the second courthouse was built at a cost of $98,000 by Barr & Moser of Pittsburgh, architects. Constructed of red brick, it had a stone trimming and a belfry and was beautiffuly furnished. A fire in 1908 leveled this structure, and only the records were saved.

   Cornerstone laying for the present courthouse designed by architects fron Youngstown, Ohio, was in 1909. Construction took three years and the contractor, W.W. Lyuster, from Dayton, Ohio, took a heavy loss as the award for the contract was $324,000 while the actual cost was in excess of $500,000.

   The dome is patterned after St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome and contains a large clock with dials facing the four points of the compass. The Gothic designed building is constructed of brick and stone with sandstone pillars. Inside, the rotunda, thirty feet in diameter, extends to the top of the third floor and is topped off with an art glass ceiling.