Mono County Points of Interest
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22 June 2009
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Mono County Courthouse
Main Street
Bridgeport
Built 1880
Mono County was created on April 21, 1861, as the first California mining county on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. The county seat was established at Aurora, but a state boundary survey in 1863 revealed that Aurora lay in the Nevada Territory, three miles from the California border. The presiding judge immediately shut down the courthouse in Aurora and decreed that no more cases could be tried there.
Mono County voters selected Bridgeport as their new county seat.
In 1880, this Italianate courthouse was completed. It continues to house the California Superior Court.
A plaque mounted by the main entrance reads:
Mono County Court HouseSince April 1, 1881, with the trial of Morton, indicted for theft of gold bullion from the Standard Co. of Bodie, the scales of justice in this building have continuously weighed the problems of Mono County from infancy to this present day. This impressive building remains a classic example of the artisans of yesterday.
Plaque dedicated September 25, 1965 by the Bodie Chapter of E. Clampus Vitus in coaction with the Mono County Historical Society