TRENTON — After nearly 15 years, the Dade County Historic Courthouse & Museum reopened this week in Trenton.
Built in 1926, the Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 before closing due to disrepair in November 2010, Dade County Executive Don Townsend said at a news conference. With help from the Trenton-Dade Historic Preservation Commission, restoration efforts began in 2022 before the structure reopened Wednesday.
“After a decade of planning followed by a three-year period of careful restoration and revitalization of a treasured piece of Dade County history, this reopening not only honors the past but looks boldly towards the future, preserving the architectural legacy while creating new opportunities for community engagement,” Townsend said.
In 2019, the Dade County Board of Commissioners voted to restore the landmark but did not want to use property tax dollars to do so, Townsend said. The renovations were funded through a combination of accommodations tax, local sales tax and the American Rescue Plan Act, a pandemic relief effort passed by Democrats in Congress with no Republican support in March 2021.
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