The four paintings on the ceiling in the rotunda of the Traill County Courthouse are an unusual and beautiful sight. The four large panels depict four different scenes from around Traill County.

The paintings in the courthouse were done under contract for $2,750 by the William G. Andrews Decorating Company of Clinton, Iowa. The paintings are unsigned and the artist name has been forgotten.

In the early 1950’s the Traill County Commission was faced with a decision to either clean and restore the courthouse paintings or paint over them. It was decided that restoration would be too expensive and a dark, deep green paint went on, covering almost all of the decorative work on the first and second floors of the courthouse. It is told that when the scaffolding went up in the rotunda, Gerhard Olson, the Auditor at that time, came out in the hall and asked what they were going to do. They told him they were going to paint from the dome down. “Oh no you’re not,” said Olson. “Those paintings are original Traill County scenes, and they’re to be preserved.”  So instead of being destroyed forever the paintings received a coat of preservative and can still be enjoyed today.

  
In the scene from Island Park in Mayville, the old foot bridge, long since replaced, can be seen across the water in the background.

The Hillsboro Park scene is from just above the present dam across the Goose River, where the river skirts the railroad track off old Highway 81.  

The scene with the horse-drawn bundle wagons is from the Bonanza Grandin Farm No. 8 southeast of Hillsboro.

The Bonanza Farm north of Mayville shows a harvest scene using a threshing machine.

Stained glass window at the front of the Courthouse. The window includes the year 1907 which was the year the Courthouse was dedicated.  Writing on the window states “Liberty and Union Now and Forever One and Inseparable.”