The Lafayette County Courthouse is located in

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Oxf ...

and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The current structure was constructed in 1872 to replace an earlier building burned during the Civil War by Union troops directed by General Andrew Jackson Smith.

Spires Boling Spires Boling (1812–1880), whose name is often misspelled as Spires Bolling, was a slaveowner, master builder, architect, and distillery founder in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He is known for holding the journalist Ida B. Wells and her family i ...

of the firm Willis, Sloan and Trigg was the courthouse's architect. Two subsequent expansions of the building were performed. In 1952 and 1953, the west and east bays were added. The structure was renovated in 1981. The Courthouse currently houses several judicial courtrooms and related offices, including the Third Circuit Judicial District Court, and the Third Circuit District Drug Court, which both serve Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, and Union counties. The Courthouse also contains the office of the Circuit Court Clerk. According to the court's website, "Mississippi's Circuit Courts hear felony criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits. Circuit Courts hear appeals from County, Justice and Municipal courts and from administrative boards and commissions such as the Workers' Compensation Commission and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security." As the structural centerpiece to the home of

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

, the Courthouse also plays a significant role in Faulkner's fictional Jefferson County. The Courthouse appears in multiple works. These include stories featuring the lawyer Gavin Stevens (including ''

Knight's Gambit ''Knight’s Gambit'' is a 1949 short story collection by American author William Faulkner. Including the titular story, the book collects six of Faulkner’s stories about attorney Gavin Stevens, who also takes a leading part in his novel ''Intr ...

''), the dramatic ending to ''

The Sound and the Fury ''The Sound and the Fury'' is a novel by the American author William Faulkner. It employs several narrative styles, including stream of consciousness. Published in 1929, ''The Sound and the Fury'' was Faulkner's fourth novel, and was not immedi ...

'', and elements of ''

Go Down, Moses "Go Down Moses" is a spiritual phrase that describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 5:1: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may se ...

''.

Gallery

File:NRHP 77000791 Lafayette County Mississippi Courthouse North Facing.JPG, Lafayette County Mississippi Courthouse North Facing File:NRHP 77000791 Lafayette County Mississippi Courthouse NE Facing.JPG, Lafayette County Mississippi Courthouse NE Facing File:NRHP 77000791 Lafayette County Mississippi Courthouse East Facing.JPG, Lafayette County Mississippi Courthouse East Facing File:NRHP 77000791 Lafayette County Courthouse West Facing.JPG, Lafayette County Courthouse Mississippi West Facing

References

Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Greek Revival architecture in Mississippi Italianate architecture in Mississippi Government buildings completed in 1871 Buildings and structures in Oxford, Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Lafayette County, Mississippi Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Mississippi County courthouses in Mississippi {{Mississippi-NRHP-stub