Pierce Courthouse

Shoshone County's original courthouse, Idaho's earliest public building, still stands in Pierce, where it was built in 1862. Pierce gained a large population for a year after gold was discovered there in 1860, but most miners soon moved on to other camps. By 1880, Shoshone County had only 469 people left, 296 of them Chinese. When a new gold rush 80 miles farther north led to the removal of county government to Murray in 1885, the courthouse became a private home. It was eventually preserved by Mrs. Henry Spencer Lawson and now is a component of Nez Perce National Historical Park.

Pierce, Idaho · United States