Jackson County Courthouse, Marianna Florida

The Jackson 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 ...

at the center of the Marianna town square, in Jackson County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. The first Jackson County Courthouse was built in 1829 when Scottish immigrant Robert Beveridge persuaded local authorities to designate the fledgling town of Marianna as the county seat with the promised construction of a courthouse. Eventually, a new courthouse was built in the town in 1906. On one occasion, it is reported that Florida Supreme Court Justice Rivers H. Buford prevented a mob of thousands of people from carrying out a

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

in Marianna in the fall of 1934, with nothing more than oratory delivered from the steps of the 1906 courthouse. The current courthouse located at 4445 Lafayette Street in Marianna was built between May 1962 and December 1963,''The Florida Bar Journal'' (1964), Vol. 38, p. 111. in a contemporary architectural style, a "three story rock and glass structure accented by four concrete planters" with a monument from the 1906 courthouse near the front entrance. The total cost was approximately $752,000. The building was described at the time as "unique in that there are no halls on the ground floor", with two courtrooms on the second floor "arranged so that the witness faces the jury when testifying".

References

{{Florida County Courthouses County courthouses in Florida Buildings and structures in Jackson County, Florida Government buildings completed in 1963 1829 establishments in Florida Territory