Elevator Installed at Grant County Courthouse

The ups and downs of working or conducting business at the Grant County Courthouse in Milbank just got a big lift – an elevator. Grant County Commissioners Bill Tostenson, Marty Buttke, Doug Stengel, Bill Street and Mike Mach, along with Karen Layher, assistant to the commissioners, took the inaugural ride on Tuesday, April 8. The elevator is now available for public use.

It is the first elevator installed in the courthouse that comprises three stories and a basement. The courthouse was built in 1915. Over 100 years have passed, but the building remains a bastion of Classical Revival beauty. 

Layher has worked in the building for over three decades as she also served 30 years as the Grant County Auditor. She says she still marvels at its elegance and emphasizes how the commissioners have always strived to keep the courthouse in wonderful condition. Karen says the elevator will provide a great service to all area residents. “But I was also happy how the paint matches perfectly,” she says. “You can’t tell the elevator is a new addition.” A small section of each of the offices of the Grant County Clerk of Courts and the Auditor were also absorbed to make room for the elevator, but the new and the old are equally undetectable in those spaces. 

Until now, heavy objects such as boxes of paperwork or furniture had to be toted up and down the stairs, the cleaning crew’s vacuums and wash buckets had to be carried up and down the stairs, too. Visitors incapable of navigating the stairs were relegated to using a chair lift attached to the stairway that was often inoperable and nearly always in need of repair. The chair lift is now a thing of the past, and the ornate metal balusters of the stair railings can now be observed unobstructed. 

One of the most remarkable aspects of the elevator is actually how unnoticeable it is. Returning visitors will be more likely to notice how much care went into the project to ensure the machine was a seamless addition to the “Grand Old Girl” and how the architectural integrity of the building was kept intact. The courthouse was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Although the organization doesn’t impose strict rules to changes made to a property that isn’t federally owned, some significant modifications can lead to the removal from the Register.

Hasslen Construction of Ortonville was the general contractor. The work started last October. According to Layher, however, plans for the elevator began eight years ago when the county began setting aside funds for it. She said the final cost for the project was $1,467,234 and approximately $1,200,000 was used for the TKE elevator (formerly Thyssenkrup), architectural and engineering plans, demolition, building the shaft, and final restoration. The balance was earmarked for the roof and to restructure the basement into an office suite for the county commissioners, other offices, and an open space for meetings. Also, according to Layher, with the elevator completed, the project is ahead of schedule. Just a small amount of the remodeling remains to be finished. “But,”  Karen adds, “there is a lot of cleaning to do!”  In May, a cleaning crew will arrive to polish the courthouse from top-to-bottom – walls, light fixtures, woodwork, floors, and windows. After the dust has settled (and been removed), Layher says an Open House will be held.. “We would like to thank the Grant County residents for their patience and support.”

Submitted Photo: L-R, Karen Layher, Bill Tostenson, Marty Buttke, Doug Stengel, Bill Street and Mike Mach.