IRONTON, Mo. (News First) – The renovation work at the historic Iron County Courthouse in Ironton is nearly complete. Work at the courthouse has been going on for several years now.
“The first phase of the project was we had to redo the inside of the courthouse. We had some severe structural issues. The ceiling fell in. One of the offices, the floor had caved in another office. So it was a necessity to get the inside done first. So we completed that phase and then we went to the next phase, which was the second floor of the courtroom of the courthouse. And it was courtroom in general. We’ve got that done two years ago,” says Iron County Presiding Commissioner Jim Scaggs.
Scaggs tells us about the latest work at the courthouse.
“This year we are working on the outside of the building. The 1860 brick had some deteriorating mortar. It had been painted several times. The paint had deteriorated the brick, causing the mortar to give way and was letting water enter into the brick structure. And so this year we took that project on and we’re finishing up. We’ve probably replaced somewhere around 100, maybe 200 bricks and then completely tuck point the building of the historical part of the courthouse that was built in 1860. We’ve been doing quite a bit of work and we’ve been pretty proud of that. Something that we really wanted to get done this year and it looks like it’s gonna turn out to be a good project for us,” he says.
One of the first things they did to the courthouse was install a modern heating and cooling system. We asked Scaggs if that is paying off for Iron County.
“Oh, absolutely. We’ve seen this drop in our utility bills because we were a natural gas hot water boiler heat system, which was very, very inefficient. We now have what they call a heat pump air and heat system throughout the building. So the environment inside the courthouse maintains a certain temperature all the time. That has really paid all far. We’ve seen a great reduction in our utility bills,” he adds.
Scaggs told News First on Thursday that they are done with the tuck pointing on the 1860 section of the courthouse. He says the only thing left to do now is replace some windows.
