The Rutherford County Courthouse in

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, is a

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

building from 1859. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is one of six remaining

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

county courthouses in Tennessee

Early history

In 1813 a courthouse, jail and other buildings were built on the site occupied by the current building. The courthouse served as the seat of the state legislature until 1822 when the structure burned down. After the courthouse burnt down in 1822, the state legislature meetings were held at the local Presbyterian Church until the capitol was moved to Nashville in 1826. The population of Murfreesboro greatly declined following this, and the county would use the church as their courthouse until 1859.

Civil War

A new, larger, courthouse was built in 1859 at a cost of $50,000. The original cupola was designed to reflect the

Tennessee State Capitol The Tennessee State Capitol, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It serves as the home of both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly–the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tenne ...

building in Nashville. In 1860 a new bell and clock tower was constructed. During the Civil War the Courthouse was occupied by both

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

troops. Confederate troops, under the command of Gen.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

, occupied the area from July 1862 until the end of the

Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the Ame ...

in early 1863. The Courthouse then served as a headquarters for the Union army until the end of the war.

Modern history

The Courthouse narrowly escaped destruction when a tornado hit Murfreesboro in 1913 which caused minor damage to the clock tower. In the spring of 1923, a man known as the "Human Fly" announced that he would climb to the top of the Courthouse for a small fee. His ascent was successful but as he began to climb down he lost his footing and fell to his death. During WWII, to announce the first statewide blackout the Courthouse bell was rung at 9:00 PM on June 9, 1942 and the Courthouse became the site of an air raid alarm. The square surrounding the Courthouse was used for military training exercises. During the early 1960s wings were added on either side of the original 1859 building to accommodate the need for additional space. Although, there have been no major constructions on the site since then the interior was renovated in 1998 to its original 19th-century appearance. There is a popular local legend which states there are a series of tunnels, possibly for escape or transferring funds to nearby banks, running from the Courthouse to various locations. No such tunnels have been discovered, although small (and limited) subterranean structures do exist such as drainage pipes. The historic courthouse no longer hosts the county's various courts, which are now located in the Rutherford County Judicial Building that opened on April 25, 2018, on West Lytle Street.

Courthouse grounds

In 1901, the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...

along with the Ladies Memorial Association erected a monument to the Confederacy on the Courthouse lawn.http://www.rutherfordcounty.org/courthouse/toppage2.htm On the west side of the Courthouse, in 1912, a tablet was erected by the Col. Hardy Murfree Chapter of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

to commemorate Murfreesboro's status as former state capitol. Another monument was erected, this time on the southwest lawn, in 1949 to further memorialize the city's status as former state capitol. Additional monuments around the Courthouse include, a monument to Revolutionary War Gen.

Griffith Rutherford Griffith Rutherford (c. 1721 – August 10, 1805) was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War, a political leader in North Carolina, and an important figure in the early history of the Southwest Territory and the state of Ten ...

, a monument dedicated to Rutherford County law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty since 1946, two plaques in memory to the memory of Forrest's Raid on Murfreesboro (July 13, 1862), a memorial to Veterans of Foreign Wars, a plaque in honor of those who served the Confederacy from Rutherford County, and a monument erected in 2011 by the

Camp #33 dedicated to those from Rutherford County who served in the

Army of Tennessee The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating i ...

Gallery

File:Murfreesboro.JPG File:Rutherford tennessee county courthouse.jpg

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Neoclassical architecture in Tennessee Italianate architecture in Tennessee Government buildings completed in 1859 County courthouses in Tennessee Clock towers in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Murfreesboro, Tennessee 1859 establishments in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Rutherford County, Tennessee