San Juan County Courthouse

If your matter is urgent and you require immediate assistance, please contact the La Plata County Clerk of Court at (970)247-2304. Otherwise, please leave a message at 970-387-5790 or sanjuanclerk@judicial.state.co.us and we will get back to you during office hours. 

Trial Court personnel include the Clerk of Court and County Court Judge. Language interpreters are available by video conference free of charge to assist in official Court proceedings. Our regular docket is generally held on first Thursdays. 

Numerous legal forms may be purchased from the Clerk's office and many are available online by visiting the Forms section on this website.

About our historic courthouse: 

San Juan Combined Courts (District and County) are located upstairs in the historic San Juan County Courthouse at 1557 Greene Street in Silverton, Colorado, sited on a grassy square beside the San Juan County History Museum and the San Juan County Historical Society Archives and Research Center. 

Established as a county in 1876 just before Colorado officially became a state, San Juan County’s early offices led a gypsy-like existence as they moved around Silverton, leasing space on the second floor of the Grand Imperial Hotel among other places. 

In 1906, San Juan County commissioned the design and construction of a new courthouse, selecting Scottish immigrant architect James Murdoch to develop the plans. The foundation was completed by David Ramsay of Durango in August 1906, and in February 1907, the general contracting firm Brown and Schrepferman of Denver was awarded the $79,000 construction bid. Built in the Classical Revival style with a native gray sandstone foundation,  pressed grayish-gold bricks, an ornate square clocktower with a gilded, open bell cupola and entry porticos supported by paired Doric columns of cast stone, the courthouse was completed in February 1908 and has served as the seat of county government and judicial matters ever since.

The courthouse is part of the Silverton Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It represents the establishment of local government during the national mining boom and reflects the wealth generated by the region's mining industry. The building remains largely intact and underwent restoration from 1999 to 2007, and again in the early 2020s. Funding for renovations has come from History Colorado's State Historical Fund, the Department of Local Affairs, the Colorado Judicial Branch’s Underfunded Courthouse Grant Program and from San Juan County's Building Restoration Fund.

Standing as a symbol of Silverton's prosperity during its mining era, the courthouse remains one of the town's most notable architectural landmarks, alongside the Silverton Town Hall, Miner's Union Hospital, and Carnegie Library.

Inside, county offices on the ground level are still in use today with original furnishings, high ceilings, brass chandeliers and original hexagonal tile mosaic floors. Up the sweeping staircase, arranged around the cupola, are the recently renovated Clerk of Court’s office, judge’s chambers, and county and district courtrooms with glass-fronted bookcases and oak floors. Early records dating from before San Juan County’s inception are still conserved and used throughout the courthouse, including immigration records, a treasury of maps showing mining claims, and the original town plat.

Accessibility: 

The San Juan County Courthouse has a wheelchair lift at the rear door to provide access to ground level county offices, but the judicial facilities on the second story are accessible only by stairs. Stop by for a visit. We'll be happy to show you around!