By this time, the area was well settled, the first pioneers having arrived more than twenty years prior,[1]: 17  and as early as 1858, there was an old-settlers' association in operation.

[1]: 29  Nevertheless, the contest continued: county residents pressured legislators in Springfield, who over the next four years enacted three separate laws seeking to resolve the question: a commission was appointed to ascertain the best location in 1843, a Lyndon lawsuit seeking to retrieve the seat status was quashed by an 1846 law naming Sterling the seat,[1]: 30  and an 1849 act ordered another election whose decision was to be final.

[1]: 29  Sterling then built a two-story square brick courthouse with a second-floor courtroom, within which several local churches worshipped before completing their buildings.

It stood until the late 1870s, unoccupied after the county offices moved to Morrison,[1]: 31  but after its demolition the site was redeveloped into a residential neighborhood.

A large bay window, the height of the entire floor, projects from the top story atop a column-supported overhang that covers an outdoors walking area on one side of the building.