Adel, the seat of Dallas County, was laid out in 1847 on the west bank of the North Raccoon River, and among the notable structures there is the Dallas County Courthouse. Another building to be visited in Adel is the Presbyterian Church of 1868, located at 820 Prairie Street. In this gable-roofed brick structure, a Greek Revival format is blended with Gothic Revival details (a steeply pitched roof and windows with pointed arches).
On North Twelfth Street, between Rapids and Court streets, is the Adel Primary School Building (c. 1915), which is no longer in use. The image in this case is that of the Craftsman mode, with several references to buildings erected in England by the British exponents of the Arts and Crafts movement. The four-room school building has a raised basement, and its brick sheathing has been brought up to the sills of the windows above. The upper sections of the walls are covered in plaster. The center entrance wing has a parapeted gable end, in front of which is a hooped hood supported by masonry consoles and columns. On each side of these columns the brick walls turn a 90-degree angle, and they then swoop out in a concave curve toward the street. The upper sections of the large classroom windows have been filled in.
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