The history of Quincy District Court stretches back almost 140 years. In June 1872, the District Court of East Norfolk convened for its first session under Judge Everett C. Bumpus. The court that year heard 641 criminal complaints and 144 civil cases, in a building in downtown Quincy called the Old Town House of 1817.

The location of the court moved several times until it found a permanent home on nearby Coddington Street in 1912. The new two-story courthouse was built in the Classical Revival style, a riff on Greek architecture typical of American courthouses, with wide steps leading up to two simple columns under a triangular pediment.

For 60 years this building was used as the District Court until 1972 when a new courthouse was built on nearby Chestnut Street, a stretch of which was renamed Dennis Ryan Parkway after a clerk magistrate who presided over the court from 1951 to 1981. This building had none of the Grecian details of its predecessor, instead opting for a simple red brick façade.