Berrien County Courthouse in Berrien Springs, erected in 1839, is Michigan's oldest existing county courthouse and represents the type of building used by the state's earliest judges and lawyers. The importance of county courthouses in Michigan was established in the Michigan Constitution of 1835, which authorized county courts, and in subsequent laws requiring counties to provide suitable courthouses. Architect Gilbert B. Avery designed this Greek Revival-style courthouse, and local builder James Lewis began construction in 1838 and finished it in time for the April 1839 court term. The building originally had a courtroom on the main floor and offices for county officials on the lower level. It also functioned as a community gathering place for political meetings and conventions, musicals and theatrical performances, civic meetings, religious services, weddings, and funerals. During the Civil War, county residents held fund-raising rallies for soldiers' families on the courthouse grounds. Structural problems led to a major renovation in 1863, when the building was raised three feet and given a brick lower floor, a second-floor balcony, boxes under columns, and two new interior staircases. After an 1894 election moved the county seat from Berrien Springs to St. Joseph, the county sold the courthouse, and from 1894 to 1966 it served as a dance hall, militia drill hall, the first home of Emmanuel Missionary College, and a church. The Berrien County Historical Association acquired the building in 1967 and began a seven-year restoration. In 1974, the state of Michigan re-designated it an active courthouse for ceremonial purposes, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.