Brown County Courthouse Marker

Year erected: 1930, rededicated 1990.

In 1837, De Pere was voted the site of the new Brown County Courthouse and a two-story frame building was erected in 1838 at the northeast corner of George Street and North Wisconsin Street in De Pere. The first floor housed the county jail plus living quarters for the jailer and his family, while court was held on the upper floor. De Pere remained the county seat for seventeen years until 1854 when Green Bay incorporated. A referendum resulted in the county seat officially moving to Green Bay.

The jail quarters then served as the De Pere city jail. In March of 1871, the 1838 former courthouse building burned to the ground.

The marker was rededicated in 1990 along with an added etching of the building. The marker is located on private property but viewable from the sidewalk.

Only a single drawing remains of the original courthouse; a photo was never taken before the building burned.