Friday, April 17, 2026

Question: What is the oldest continuously operating courthouse in California, built in 1854 and still standing in a Gold Country town within a county that once covered nearly one-fifth of the state?

Answer: The Mariposa County Courthouse, a Greek Revival building completed in 1854 and still in continuous use. Its clock tower, added in 1866 with a bell shipped from England around Cape Horn, still chimes on the quarter-hour. Mariposa County is known as the “Mother of Counties,” with Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, Kern, and parts of several others carved from it.