Nevada became a state on October 31, 1864, and Humboldt County's first county seat was at Unionville, where officials did not build a permanent courthouse. In 1873 the county seat moved to Winnemucca, and Humboldt County hired James Z. Kelly for a courthouse project. The rectangular brick building was completed in 1874. Executions were held in the yard behind the courthouse, mostly as public affairs, though some were limited to ticket holders, and the last execution there took place in 1886. Fire destroyed the courthouse in 1918, leaving only a few chimneys, partial walls, and the foundation. In 1919 officials accepted designs by Frederick Joseph DeLongchamps for a new courthouse and set a limit of $150,000 for the project. Construction was completed in 1921 under the supervision of L. A. Ferris on top of the original 1874 foundation. The 90-by-90-foot, two-story building shows a Neoclassical style with Beaux-Arts influence, with Corinthian columns, matching brick pilasters capped with terracotta, sculpted eagles above the doorways, a marble staircase, and a two-story atrium with ionic columns supporting a leaded glass ceiling. In 1976 a passageway was added to connect the courthouse with the building in the rear, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1983.