The Washington County Courthouse is a historic

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

in Greenville, Mississippi. It has been 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 ...

since September 10, 2014.

History

The first courthouse in Greenville was built when the new town became the county seat in 1847. The town was moved northward due to recurring flooding and damage caused during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. A new courthouse was built near the corner of Poplar and Nelson Streets. That building was replaced by the current two and a half-story building, constructed in 1891 and opened in 1892. It was modified in 1930, 1950, 1965 and 1976, tripling its original size. It is one of the few remaining examples of a stone

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

courthouse in Mississippi. The courthouse is noted as the location of a 1922 speech by former United States Senator LeRoy Percy against the expansion of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

into Washington County.

References

Greenville, Mississippi Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Mississippi {{Mississippi-stub