{"id":1665,"date":"2026-02-09T03:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T03:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2026-02-15T19:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T19:57:08","slug":"elementor-1665","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/?p=1665","title":{"rendered":"Island County Courthouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Island County Courthouse - Coupeville<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Celeste Stokes, Past President, WCHS & David Peterson<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This article looks at the oldest standing building ever occupied as a courthouse in Washington.<\/p>

On Whidbey Island, Coupeville is one of Washington\u2019s oldest towns, and is named for a sea captain, Thomas Coupe. The island is home to Fort Casey, Fort Ebey, and the Naval Air Station. Originally all of Island County was part of Thurston County. \u00a0When carved out of Thurston County in 1852, Island County included Island, Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom and San Juan Counties, with the county seat located at Ebey\u2019s Landing on Admiralty Inlet. Now, Island County is the second-smallest county in the state.<\/p>

Isaac Ebey settled on Whidbey Island to take advantage of the Oregon Donation Land Claims Act. The Act allowed settlers to claim Indigenous land without compensation to the local Coast Salish indigenous people who had occupied the land for centuries.\u00a0 Once established, Ebey became involved in territorial politics and farming. He was elected Colonel of the Territorial Militia of Island and Jefferson Counties and was also appointed Customs Collector for Washington. The local tribes ceded ownership of the land to the U.S. government, under duress in the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855, but kept rights to harvest natural resources.<\/p>

In 1856, residents of Puget Sound feared raids by the Tlingit warriors from Alaska who had canoed to the Salish sea. In the Battle of Port Gamble, the U.S. military from the USS Massachusetts attacked the Tlingits at their encampment, killing more than two dozen, including their leader. After regrouping, in Alaska, more than 100 Tlingits returned to Whidbey Island to avenge the death of their chief. Ebey appeared to be an equivalent leader, so the Tlingits executed him.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0After government land surveys were completed in 1856, the land in today\u2019s Ebey\u2019s Landing State Park Heritage Site was conveyed into private ownership as a Donation Land Claim to the heirs of Isaac Ebey. In 1978, the U.S. Congress established the Ebey\u2019s Landing National Historic Reserve. Today the Reserve remains about 85% privately owned. Many homes and other structures have been preserved.<\/p>

The first courthouse was the general store built in 1855 at Coveland located northwest of Coupeville on Penn\u2019s Cove within the Historic Reserve. Date of these photos are unknown.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This building was in use as a courthouse until 1881, with the exception of 1864-1865. Because the old courthouse is within the Historic Reserve, it has been preserved.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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During 1864-1865, a private residence in Coupeville was used for the courthouse. The residence has also been preserved and is pictured to the left.\u00a0<\/p>

It is unknown where the courthouse was between 1881-1889.<\/p>

In 1865, the county seat was formally established at Coveland, and the courthouse moved back to the store building. The county purchased the building in 1871. It was used for the Island County courthouse until 1881. The building was sold at auction in 1886 for $150 and is still in use as a private residence. Although no longer used in its original capacity, the Coveland building is the oldest courthouse building still in use in Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 1889 or 1891 (sources variously list the date), a new wooden Island County Courthouse was constructed in Coupeville, which was then established as the county seat.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When the building was determined to be unsafe in 1947, a new Art Deco style courthouse was constructed the following year, designed by William Arild Johnson. No efforts were made to preserve the old 1889 courthouse, and it was demolished in 1949. During the demolition of the courthouse, the vault could not be dislodged even with dynamite and it still can be seen in the town.<\/p>

Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1948 courthouse serves today as the Administration Building.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 2001, the current Island County Courthouse was built a block away from the 1948 building.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sources:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

CourtHouseHistory.com<\/a><\/p>

Deacon, John. American Courthouses,<\/a> courthouses.co<\/p>

HistoryLink.org,<\/a> File 5259, McRoberts, 2\/21\/2003<\/p>

NWSidebar, WSBA Blog, 10\/30\/2020, citing<\/em> Jimmie Jean Cook, A Particular Friend, Penn\u2019s Cove<\/u> (1973)<\/p>

uscountycourthouses.org<\/a><\/p>

Visitor Information \u2014 Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve<\/a>,\u00a0<\/p>

Washington State Parks, Ebey’s Landing State Park Heritage Site History | Washington State Parks<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Island County Courthouse – Coupeville Celeste Stokes, Past President, WCHS & David Peterson This article looks at the oldest standing building ever occupied as a courthouse in Washington. On Whidbey Island, Coupeville is one of Washington\u2019s oldest towns, and is named for a sea captain, Thomas Coupe. The island is home to Fort Casey, Fort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1665"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1720,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1665\/revisions\/1720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wacourthistory.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}