Union County Courthouse

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For some reason I have a fondness for county courthouses, especially those in the south. Whenever I travel in an area I try to make it a point to check out the county seat's courthouse. Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Alabama have some gorgeous 100+ year old courthouses.

I had reason to do business in the Union County, Mississippi, courthouse in New Albany and was fascinated by their courthouse. Built in 1909 it is one of the best examples of the Neo-Classical style in the Mississippi. The Neo-Classical style was very popular between 1903 and 1920. The style replaced the Victorian Romanesque style popular with civic and public buildings, and was in turn replaced by the Art Deco style in the 1920s.

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Just looked, I have 8470 pictures on this iPad.
But no Court Houses!
A while back I was up in the attic of the Old DeSoto County Courthouse, Hernando, MS. It’s also a classic style.
I was searching old land records with a local genealogy expert.
 
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I too like old courthouses. I spent some time in the Union County Courthouse in the Chancery Clerk's office doing title work nearly twenty years ago, and now I cannot remember for sure whether the Chancery Clerk's office was part of the original Courthouse, or an annex. I spent even more time in the DeSoto County Chancery Clerk's office, also doing title work, and I know for sure it was inside the Courthouse.

Other notable Courthouses in Mississippi include the original Madison County Courthouse (now my home county) and the old Hinds County Courthouse for the 2d Judicial District in Raymond (in Mississippi a few of our counties have two judicial districts, and thus two Courthouses). Both of these were built just prior to the Civil War.

I have had the privilege to work in many more old and architecturally interesting Courthouse in Mississippi, as well as in Texas, Arkansas, and Nebraska - several of which have served as movie sets.
 
Here's the old Cochise County courthouse in Tombstone, Arizona as it appeared in 1940. Built in 1882, it was abandoned when the county seat moved to Bisbee. My maternal grandfather served on juries here.



It's been fully restored, and this is how it looks today.



...and here are the gallows on the west side of the courthouse.

John

 
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Ivan the Butcher said:
Here in Ohio, we have a Union County. But I am amazed that a Southern state didn't rename their Union County after the war!

Ivan
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Founded in 1870, Union County, Mississippi, was formed from sections of Tippah and Pontotoc Counties. The county received its name during Reconstruction (Union Occupation).

Interestingly, LEE County is the next county over. :D
 
I have also worked, on a couple of occasions, a long time ago, in the Courthouse in Union County, Arkansas (located in El Dorado). Union County, Arkansas, borders Union Parish, Louisiana. The Courthouse in Union County, Arkansas, while larger, is not as architecturally attractive as the one in Union County, Mississippi - at least in my opinion.
 
Yes we have a Union County here in NM.
I have been to Clayton, the County Seat.
It’s the extreme NE Corner of the state.
Actually don’t recall the Courthouse!
Here’s a pic I found online.
Clayton ain’t that big, when you drive through downtown it’s probably hard not to see it!
 

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Took a walk through the Victoria, Texas courthouse which could be a Hollywood movie set. Was restored in 2001 and just oozes of history and south Texas law and order. The town of Victoria has a driving tour of about 100 old Victorian houses that will simply amaze you.
 

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From years of doing land title work, debt collection work and foreclosures I spent time in a lot of courthouses. One very interesting courthouse is the Common Pleas Courthouse for Berks County in Reading, PA. It is 14 or 15 stories tall and has a finished basement floor. It sort of resembles the building shown in the opening of the old Superman TV show. When I was working there back in 1977, there was a gentleman who had a full-sized shoeshine stand in that basement. I wish I could make a detailed description of it but I haven't seen it for 45 years.
 
I think that was the courthouse where I got my PA License To Carry back in 2017 or so. Interesting old building.

Golddollar said:
From years of doing land title work, debt collection work and foreclosures I spent time in a lot of courthouses. One very interesting courthouse is the Common Pleas Courthouse for Berks County in Reading, PA. It is 14 or 15 stories tall and has a finished basement floor. It sort of resembles the building shown in the opening of the old Superman TV show. When I was working there back in 1977, there was a gentleman who had a full-sized shoeshine stand in that basement. I wish I could make a detailed description of it but I haven't seen it for 45 years.
Click to expand...
 
One of the Mechanical contractors I worked for had a maintenance/repair contract in a courthouse in a county in Western PA. I inherited that job when I started with them. Of course there was a bell & clock tower in the original part of the building. The head maintenance guy & I were pretty tight. One day I mentioned I'd like to take in the view from up there. Later that day after lunch he took me up there to look around. Very cool clockworks. Then he pulled out a kind of cigarette. I thought what the heck! I had spent too many wasted days down in the Domestic Relations Dept. getting my paycheck raped, so it was all the more enjoyable! Nice view. THEN, the one o'clock bell rang. Maybe that's why my ears are screwy. Glad it was only one!
Some of the old churches downtown PGH are pretty cool, too.
 
Allegheny Courthouse had the shoe shine stand years ago; not sure if it's still being used. I was doing some work in that building, too, and I was BS'ing with the one operator that was still working there. He said he put 3 kids through college on that job. Said he was the "last of a dying breed. All the punks were too proud to do that work." One of the nicest guys I ever met.
 
The old Chester County courthouse in West Chester, Pa was designed by Thomas U. Walter, the architect of the US capitol, in the 1840’s. It remained in use by the Court of Common Pleas until the new courthouse opened down the street in late 2008.

The County outgrew the 1840’s courthouse long before 2008. They put on a small addition around 1910, built a large building next to it on the 1960’s, and then bought or leased various vacant spaces around town in the 1980’s. A new courthouse was needed, but I miss working in the old one. The old courthouse had character, the new one is just a bland box. The county still uses the old courthouse and 1910 addition, the rest of the buildings they sold off.
 
I'm a courthouse fan as well. My personal favorite is the Pacific County Courthouse in South Bend, Washington. Beautiful architecture in and out, and great landscaping as well.
 
This is the old Maricopa County courthouse in Phoenix, located at 125 W. Washington street. Only half of of the building was the courthouse; the other half served as city hall for Phoenix. The structure occupied an entire city block, and also housed the Phoenix police headquarters for a time. Construction was completed in 1929. It is now an administration building for Maricopa County.

This is the front of the building with the main entrance on the north side facing Washington street. I remember going in that entrance as a kid, and the first thing you saw on the inside was a shoeshine stand on the right that was run by an old black gentleman. I'm guessing his main clients were the ever-present herd of lawyers that came there daily.



This is the south side of the building. At the upper left of the picture you can see a portion of the modern city hall.



Here is a picture of the cornerstone of the building that was laid by the Freemasons in Phoenix in 1928. It's located at the northeast corner of the structure.

John

 
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