In 1906, Teton County completed a new courthouse in Choteau, a locally quarried sandstone, two-and-one-half-story building that has served its community for more than a century. From 1893 to 1906, the county had operated from rented rooms in several buildings, and by 1905 the need for a permanent courthouse was clear to Choteau residents, though others farther from the county seat disagreed. A proposed $40,000 bond issue touched off a fierce newspaper battle, with the Choteau Acantha backing the measure and the Conrad Observer opposing it in hopes that Conrad might someday replace Choteau as county seat. The bond issue passed by a vote of 366 to 316, and although Conrad later achieved its political goal when the legislature created Pondera County from Teton County in 1919, it lost this earlier contest. Kalispell architects Joseph Gibson and George Shanley designed the courthouse, likely adapting the plan from their 1903 design for Flathead County High School. With its symmetrical façade, central three-story tower, bracketed cornice, arched entrances, and low hipped roof, the building is an excellent example of Renaissance Revival architecture, a style associated with permanence and governmental authority that suited the ambitions of the young county.