Madelia was Watonwan's first county seat, from 1860-1878. The first courthouse building is the one pictured but was since razed. In 1878 the county the seat was relocated to St. James.
The title page of the album reads, "Views of Glenwood, Pope, Co., MINN. Photographed August, 1876. This collection of Views is intended to represent the appearance of the Village of Glenwood in the Centennial Year. Photographed and published by N. J. Trenham, Portrait & Landscape Photographer, Alexandria, Minn. These views, bound in sets or singly, for sale at Trenham's Gallery, Alexandria, and Rue's Drug Store, Glenwood."
This postcard shows a view of St. Peter taken from the courthouse on the east side of the 500 block of South Minnesota Avenue. The Nutter Bros. hardware store is on the west side of the 400 block of the avenue. Postcard E7285 extends this view to the left (south).
Group photograph of the participants in an Old Settler's Association Meeting in 1908. The people are standing in front of the Cottonwood County Courthouse.
Exterior view of the old courhouse building in the winter. The people in front of the courhouse are A.O. Houkom, A. Risberg, S. G. Bertilrud, Miss Nina E. Miller, Tom Ness, and Oliver Oie.
This photograph shows the Nicollet County Courthouse in St. Peter. To its north (at far left) is the Gorman Building, which was demolished in order to construct the Carnegie Library. Two ladies can be seen walking on the boardwalks.