Henry County was organized in 1834, and Napoleon became the county seat in 1835. The first court met in a two-story log cabin at the corner of Perry and Front Streets. The first courthouse, a plain two-story building that cost $2,000, was built in 1844 and was destroyed by fire in 1847, with all records lost. A second courthouse of brick in the Federal Style was built in 1849-50 on the present site for $7,495. In 1879, that courthouse and twenty-two other buildings were destroyed in the "Dutch Row" fire, but records were saved. Architect David Gibbs designed the present courthouse in the Empire Style. Built of limestone and locally made brick at a cost of $95,000, it had its cornerstone laid on July 10, 1880, and was completed in 1882. A fifteen foot Goddess of Justice tops the clock tower, and the names of the 1880 county commissioners Charles Horning, Daniel Yarnell, and Rueben Reiter are cast on the tower bell. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.