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- Historic Courthouse |
The roof is slate and galvanized iron; the tower is capped with copper. Wainscoting in the main corridors and stairs is enameled brick; the lobby and corridors are tiled. Trends on the iron stairway are slate. The building was the Marshall County Courthouse for 87 years before a new structure was built immediately west in 1979. The Marshall Co. Historical Society now owns and operates the Historic Courthouse, which includes the Historic Library, a display of historic photos and antique newspaper equipment, the Dr. J.W. Randell room and business and professional offices.
Finished in 1876, the house was owned originally by Charles F. Koester, who immigrated here form Germany. Bronze lions guard the entrance to the Koester House Museum at the corner of Broadway and 10th Street, built in the early 1870s. The Victorian tow-story wood frame home is the very image of 19th-century charm, with architectural lace, classical yard sculptures and flower urns and heavy woven-wire gypsy doors. The museum retains much of its original decor and furnishings and is open May 1 to October 31 and for prearranged tours year round. The newest house in the historic Koester Block was built circa 1904-1906 and is now a restaurant. Focal point of the rich tapestry that is Historic Marysville is the Koester Block, a square of commercial and residential buildings that today houses businesses, a park, restaurants and the Koester House Museum The block was built during the last half of the 19th century and early 1900s. It was given by the Koester family to the city in 1977 and is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places.
The brick-faced Queen Anne house was in the Pusch family until 1930, when it was sold to Dr. and Mrs. J.W. Randell. The home is a private residence.
The Pony Express System was inaugurated April 3, 1860, from St. Joseph, where the railroad ended. The St. Joseph-to-Sacramento run covered 1,966 miles and lasted only 18 months, when the Pony Express bowed out to the faster-moving telegraph.
Sculpted by Dr. Richard Bergen, Salina, the exciting bronze piece seems alive, thundering across the prairie to the next station. The bronze sculpture was made possible by the R.L. and Elsa Helvering Trust and dedicated by Gov. John Carlin on July 4, 1985, and 125th anniversary celebration of the Pony Express.
Nearby are the Beattie depot (circa 1870) and the former Bommer School House. The sod house was created by the Marysville Kiwanis Club to depict life in its earliest days in this community.
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(14) Habitat for Humanity Breakfast & Run (2-4) M-Act, Plaza Suite, American Legion (8-9) Mother's Day Flea Market, Barbecue (6) Tentative date for Chamber Auction (4) Pony Express Days and Fireworks (14) Friday Night Crusin (22) Black Squirrel Night (14) Country Cupboard Craft Show, Armory |
© Copyright 1998
LASR
One of Marysville's great old landmarks is the Historic Courthouse, 1209 Broadway. Built in 1891, the brick-faced Romanesque gem has columns of polished red granite. "Justice" stands out in terra-cotta in cornices above the second-floor windows.
The Charles F. Koester House at 919 Broadway was given to the city of Marysville by fourth-generation heirs in 1972.
Built in 1904 by Robert and Jacob Wullschleger, Swiss brothers who immigrated to Marshall County, for Charles F. Pusch, a German immigrant who owned a cigar manufacturing plant here.
Built in 1859 by Joseph Cottrell, the Pony Express Barn-Museum is the oldest building in Marshall County. Too, it is the only original home station along the Pony Express route at its original site.
See them at the west edge of Marysville in the Hall Bros. Pony express Park, the largest sculpture of its kind in the Midwest.
After the Union Pacific Railroad converted to diesel power in the early 1950s, Marysville, a crew-change point, asked for and received the great old steam locomotive on display in City Park, a Baldwin Consolidation 2-8-0, built in 1901 for UP, later used for short-line freight hauls.
Emigrants crossed the Blue River at Marysville on a rope ferry between 1851 and 1854, until a bridge was built. Costs were $5 per wagon and $0.25 per head of livestock. A rope crossed the river above the ferry which rode a pulley back and forth. By turning the wheel, another rope would shift the ferry into or away from the swift river current. 
