Pioneer Courthouse

The Pioneer Courthouse is an Italianate building identified by its smooth-cut sandstone facade and the prominent octagonal wood cupola crowning its roof. Completed in eighteen seventy-five, it is the oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest and the second-oldest federal courthouse west of the Mississippi River. When it opened, the building occupied a full city block that residents considered far from the city center, but it served as a vital anchor for the developing frontier region by housing the federal post office, customs office, and courts.