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George P. Washburn
Architect (1846-1922)

Doniphan County Courthouse

George P. Washburn of Ottawa, Kansas was one of the leading architects in the state at
the turn of the 20th century. He studied architecture in Quincy, Illinois at Bryant &
Stratton's Commercial College and came to Kansas in 1870. He worked in Kansas City,
Missouri as a carpenter and an architect for a time before setting up his own architecture
practice in Ottawa in 1882. In 1885 he became the architect for the Kansas State Board of
Charities. Washburn was also one of several architects that designed Kansas' Carnegie
Libraries.

Although Washburn designed all types of buildings, including residential, he is best known
for his courthouses having designed a total of 13. During the 1890s he designed the
Johnson, Franklin, Miami, Atchison, and Woodson County courthouses. In 1901 his son
joined the firm and it became George P. Washburn & Son. Together, father and son
designed the Anderson, Neosho, Doniphan, Kingman, Harper, and Butler County
courthouses.

Washburn's buildings were not often representative of one architectural style, but rather a
combination of the prevailing aesthetics of the time. He developed different combinations
of Richarsonian Romanesque. Queen Anne, Classical Revival and Beaux Arts and the
result was eclectic.

In 1910 George Washburn went into semi-retirement and his son-in-law, Roy Stookey
joined the firm with his son. Washburn died in 1922 and the firm became Washburn &
Stookey.

Court House today

Court House right after
Construction