Madera County came into existence in 1893, created from a part of Fresno, some forty years after the organization of that county. The courthouse was the first important building for Madera after it became a county.

The Classical Revival building, architect unrecorded, is built of granite quarried in Raymond.

For sixty years the Courthouse served as the administrative and political center for a largely agricultural region. It now houses the Madera County Historical Museum.

Adapted from the NRHP nomination.