Ashland County resisted losing its easternmost township, the Town of Vaughn, when a new county was proposed in 1887 because Vaughn included Hurley’s rich iron ore mines and a booming community whose ore from the Penokee Range moved through Ashland’s port to eastern steel mills, generating tax income as timber revenues declined. After years of political gridlock, Iron County became Wisconsin’s 70th county on March 3, 1893, but without a building for its government, forcing the new county board to meet in a shack in downtown Hurley. The turreted building was originally constructed for the Town of Vaughn in 1893, with a large arch for the town’s horse-drawn fire department and a massive tower that held the fire bell and a city clock, though many early Hurley taxpayers considered the clock tower an extravagance and it nearly was removed from the plans. Seeking a more dignified county seat, the Iron County board bought the building for $32,000 in 1894, and it served as the Iron County Courthouse until 1975. Today it houses the Iron County Historical Museum and the area’s most extensive collection of Penokee Iron Range artifacts and displays.