Monroe County was created in 1854, with Sparta as the county seat. The present building is the county’s third courthouse, replacing one built in 1863. Constructed in 1895 at a cost of more than $50,000, it was designed by Chicago architect Mifflin E. Bell in the Romanesque Revival style, a popular choice for civic architecture in the 1890s. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.