When Toledo was platted, a large public square measuring 312 feet by 312 feet was provided at the center of the town. The county's business was first conducted in a two-story wooden building (built in 1854), but a permanent masonry structure was constructed in 1866–1867. In style this was an Italianate building, two stories high, of brick with a metal roof. Andreas wrote of it, “The whole building is a model of neatness and taste, both in architectural design and beauty of finish.” 45 In 1892 the Illinois architects W. R. Parsons and Son appreciably enlarged and updated the older courthouse. In their hands a new Richardsonian Romanesque building emerged. Entrance to the building was through a large typical Richardsonian arch, and a five-story tower with four clock faces hovered over the building. When the architects were finished almost no vestige of the original building remained.