Location: Jefferson

Date Built: 1879

Architectural Style: Vernacular (Early Classical Revival and Italianate influences with Neoclassical Revival clock tower)

Designer: W.W. Thomas

Other Information: This is the fourth courthouse for Jackson County. Prior to building of a courthouse, superior court was held at the home of Thomas Kirkpatrick beginning in Aug. 1796. In 1799, Clarkesboro was designated county seat of Jackson County and a courthouse was built. In 1800, the General Assembly moved the county seat to Jefferson, where a wooden courthouse subsequently was built. In 1820, a brick courthouse was built. The current courthouse was built in 1879. A clock tower was added in 1906, and an interior renovation completed in 1978. Because of the small size of the courthouse, county officials began planning for a new courthouse in 2002 and purchased land outside the downtown area for consturction of a new courthouse and county government building. Since completion of the new courthouse in 2004, the old courthouse has served as the office for the Jackson County Registrar of Voters.

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia