Featuring a two-story bell tower and arched stained glass windows, the United Methodist Church building in the unincorporated Davis County community of West Grove was dedicated January 28, 1904. In 1923, the church temporarily closed as attendance declined, but by the following year, Reverend S.P. Trostle was installed as pastor and reinvigorated the congregation.
By 1938, the sandstone foundation of the church was crumbling and services were held in a community hall while cement blocks were installed to improve the foundation. A full basement was dug in 1945 and recent improvements include restoration of the stained-glass windows and the installation of a handicap-accessible ramp. In addition to the West Grove church, the current pastor also oversees the United Methodist Church in the nearby Appanoose County community of Jerome.
Construction began on the new post office facility for the Davis County community of Pulaski in December 1999. The non-descript modular building featured new patron mailboxes, a handicap-accessible entrance, and a 24-hour lobby. Postal service was first established in Pulaski in 1852.
The first library in the Davis County seat of Bloomfield was organized in the 1870s in a second-story room within the Exchange Bank building on the northeast corner of the town square. Sixteen charter members of the library group paid five dollars for borrowing privileges, and a committee was established to grow the library’s collection. A grant from Andrew Carnegie was secured in November 1911, and shortly after, Bloomfield’s mayor appointed a Library board to oversee the building process. A site was selected and Des Moines-based Wetherell & Gage designed the $10,000 facility. The pressed brick and limestone building was dedicated in August 1913 and still serves as the library today.
Built in 1877 at a cost of $45,201, the Davis County courthouse is an outstanding example of Second Empire architecture with its distinctive mansard roof and dormer windows. The structure measures approximately 97 x 87 feet with walls made of red brick covered by a sandstone veneer. The design was the work of architect T.J. Tolan of Indiana, considered at the time to be the most successful in this style of courthouse.
In continuous use since its construction, the large courtroom seats nearly 300 people on the original walnut chairs and benches. The basement still contains the cells that were the county and city jails until 1973. A fence was originally constructed around the courtyard square of the same type that still surrounds the jailhouse windows. The courthouse has grown to become a familiar symbol of Davis County and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Text from the historical marker in the Davis County courthouse lawn.
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