Butte County Courthouse

Completed 1856

The courts occupied this brick building in downtown Oroville for the duration of the “Courthouse Wars”–a century-old contest between Oroville and Chico for the county seat. It was here in 1911 that Ishi, regarded as the last member of the Yahi tribe, stayed before traveling to San Francisco, where for several years he lived on the campus of the University of California. The courts moved to a new county center in 1965, and the original court building was demolished after it sustained damage in a 1975 earthquake.

Courtesy Department of Special Collections, University of California Library, Davis


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