By 1902, the Sioux County supervisors appointed Alton native Wilfred Beach as the architect for the construction of a new courthouse. A construction contract was signed later that year, but work quickly halted when the Sioux City-based construction company went bankrupt. A new team was appointed to oversee the project, and the new courthouse building was successfully completed in October 1904. Considered a fine example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in the state, the three-story, red sandstone building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.