Newport County Courthouse (Newport, Rhode Island)

 courthouse, 1927_construction

The courthouse for Newport County was dedicated at ceremonies on September 6, 1927. Before the building was constructed, the Colony House was the home center of Newport County's judiciary.

Two buildings preceded the Courthouse on this site. The first was the Decatur House built in the early 18th century, now on the corner of Charles Street and River Lane, home to the U.S. Navy Captain who was the father of the War of 1812 hero Stephen Decatur. The Decatur House was moved in 1833 by Mrs. Levi Gale to make room for her new house in its place. The Levi Gale House was built by Russell Warren in 1835. It was moved from Washington Square in 1925 to make way for the construction of the Courthouse. The house was split in half, pulled up the street by oxen, and reasssembled at its current location on the corner of Touro and Division Street.
The firm of Appleton & Stearns of Boston designed the courthouse in the Colonial Revival style, in harmony with its much older neighbor, the Colony House. A third floor was added in 1990 and the building renamed the Florence Kerins Murray Judicial Complex in honor of State Supreme Court Judge Florence K. Murray, a Newport native. Judge Murray was the first woman to be named to the Superior Court. Murray was also the first woman to be appointed Presiding Justice of the Superior Court and to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.