It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource.

[1] It was included as a contributing property in the Winterset Courthouse Square Commercial Historic District in 2015.

The county's first courthouse was a double log structure built in 1849 on Monumental Square in Winterset.

It was a Greek cross-shaped structure composed of locally quarried limestone that was capped with an octagonal dome.

[4] It is noteworthy for its stone construction and its rather simple interpretation of the French Renaissance Revival style.