Designed by Fort Worth–based Withers (who grew up in nearby Stamford, where he began his practice), the three-story classical courthouse is built of tawny-colored brick over a raised basement of Pecos red sandstone. The courthouse has a typical cross-axial plan, and the projecting entrance bays on the north and south elevations each have two monumental Ionic columns of banded sandstone supporting an entablature with three round windows and a pediment. A square brick tower, with clock faces and pediments on all sides, is topped by a dome and a statue representing Liberty.
Self-educated Withers was twenty-eight years old when he designed this courthouse, and he later designed at least eleven others. Situated on a slight prominence, the courthouse is visible for many miles across the rolling Osage Plains. The courthouse square has been substantially diminished by routing Commercial Avenue (U.S. 83/277) to closely encircle the courthouse in order to provide more parking for the merchants around the square.