701 Avenue F
Fort Madison, Iowa

The North Lee County Courthouse was built in 1840 to stop other Lee County communities from contesting the decision to make Fort Madison the county seat. While the Van Buren County Courthouse started construction earlier, it finished later and both courthouses claim to be Iowa's oldest courthouse still in use. The courthouse is a Greek Revival with four large Tuscan columns of plastered brick. Its architect was the Dominican pioneer priest, Father Samuel Mozzuhelli, who also designed the first St. Paul Church in Burlington. In 1847 the Iowa Legislature granted Keokuk a concurrent jurisdiction making Lee County the only Iowa county with two county seats. In 1911, the building that was built in 1841–1842 was almost completely destroyed by fire. Its tower cupola fell in a flaming heap and was not replaced during the rebuilding. The North Lee County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.