You are here

Colorado » The Colorado » Hinsdale County » Lake City » Hinsdale County Courthouse

Hinsdale County Courthouse

-A A +A
1877. 137 Henson St.

In this simple, two-story courthouse with a front gable and lap siding, Alfred Packer, Colorado's most notorious criminal, was tried and convicted of murder compounded by cannibalism. “Packer,” the judge supposedly said after condemning him to be hanged: “You son of a bitch, there were only seven Democrats in Hinsdale County, and you ate five of them.” The courtroom, up a curved staircase, is little changed. The downstairs hallway holds historical exhibits. Outside, sawn brackets around the eaves and lintel moldings provide chaste ornament for one of the state's least ostentatious courthouses.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
×

Data

What's Nearby

Hough Block
Frank House
Presbyterian Church
First National Bank of Lake City (Miners and Merchants Bank)
Drugstore

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Hinsdale County Courthouse", [Lake City, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-HN13.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 550-550.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,