By 1859, changes in Perry County’s boundaries led county offices and the courthouse to move into a remodeled house in Cannelton to create a more centrally located county seat. In 1896, a Renaissance Revival building designed by Louisville architect John Bacon Hutchings was built to serve as the county offices and courthouse. Constructed of straw colored brick with Bedford limestone trim on a locally quarried sandstone foundation, the building was said to show through its symmetry the old proverb that “beauty is its own excuse for being.” It remained the county seat until 1994, when the county offices and courthouse moved to a modern more accessible building.