Lake County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. 9 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1938.

From the record

“The Old Lake County Courthouse, also known as Lake County Courthouse, in Lakeport, California is a building built in 1870. It served Lake County as a seat of government from 1871 until 1968.”
Wikipedia article Old Lake County Courthouse (California), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 2 National Register listings published here for Lake County · listed in 1970 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 255 N. Main St., Lakeport, 95453
When was it listed? October 1970
Category. building
Census division. Lakeport
National Register reference number. 70000134 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1938 to 1994

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 56 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Lake County Courthouse, surveyed 1994

Topographic sheet covering Lake County Courthouse, surveyed 1938

Fires near this property

110 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 110 fires within 5 miles of Lake County Courthouse between 1992 and 2020, burning about 598 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	38
Equipment and vehicle use	31
Misuse of fire by a minor	13
Debris and open burning	11
Power generation/transmission/distribution	7
Natural	4
Smoking	3
Arson/incendiarism	2
Recreation and ceremony	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3.5 acres	Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit	CREEKSIDE
30 September 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit	PARALLEL DR / HWY 175
3 September 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit	SCOTTS VALLEY RD LAKEPOR
28 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit	MISSION RANCHERIA RD LAK
28 September 1997	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Central California Agency	2950 MRWAY
27 September 2006	Misuse of fire by a minor	10 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
23 September 2019	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit	CRAIG AV LAKEPORT
22 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Northern California District	LNU SCOTTS

Every fire recorded in Lake County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Lake County Courthouse: 5 producers, 3 occurrences, 2 unknowns, 1 past producer. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Manganese. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Konocti Pit and Mill	Stone	Producer
Quarry	Stone	Unknown
Rainbow Ledge	Manganese	Occurrence
Rainbow Ledge Prospect	Manganese	Prospect	1942
Ace Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Frazell Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Kelsey Creek Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Lange Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Scotts Creek Bar	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Lake County

Storms near this property

6 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lakeport, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 4 flood, 1 heavy rain, 1 debris flow. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2017	Flood	Lakeport	$7,000,000	Flooding of Clear Lake brought the closure of multiple roads. Lakeshore Boulevard was closed due to flooding between Lange Street and Giselman Street, Other strees closed included Esplanade Street, K Street, Konoctie Avenue, and Lupoyoma Avenue. Clear Lakes level stayed in flood stage for a month and led to mandatory evacuations in parts of the city of Lakeport. Lake County Public Works Director said early assessments suggested damage to county-maintained roads ranged between $5 million and $7 million.
December 2014	Debris Flow	Lakeport	$300,000	A slide at Lakeside Heights over topped the K-railing that was placed at the base of the slope and extended out into Hill Road, blocking an access to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
January 2026	Flood	Lakeport	-	Scotts Valley Road closed east of Hendricks Road due to flooding.
February 2025	Flood	Lakeport	-	Flooding at Scotts Valley Road has caused it to be closed, 2 miles west of North Lakeport, CA. Lat. 39.08N, Long. -122.95W.
February 2019	Flood	Lakeport	-	Multiple reports of flood related problems with road closures in Lake County. Highland Springs Rd mudslide. Laurel Dell Rd closed from Scotts Vly Rd to Mid Lake Rd. Other road closures include parts of Argonaut Rd, Bell Rd, Clark Drive, Soda Bay Rd, Candyland, Dry Creek, Lakeshore Drive and Scotts Valley Rd.
February 2000	Heavy Rain	Lakeport	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lake County

Maps showing this location

9 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1938 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1951 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1957 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1958 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
1958 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1960 USGS Ukiah quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1977 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1983 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:48000
1994 USGS Lakeport quadrangle1:100000

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Lakeport Carnegie Library	0.2 miles	2008

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 70000134 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Lake County	All 2 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.