Jackson County Courthouse is an historic

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

located at Sylva, serving

Jackson County, North Carolina Jackson County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,109. Since 1913, its county seat has been Sylva, which replaced Webster. Cullowhee is the site of Wes ...

. It was designed by

Smith & Carrier Smith & Carrier was an architectural partnership based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was formed in 1906 as a partnership of Richard Sharp Smith (1852–1924) and Albert Heath Carrier (1878–1961). The firm lasted until the death of Smith in ...

and built in 1913, when Sylva took over the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

designation from Webster.

The building

The Jackson County Courthouse is situated on a hill at the end of main street, and there are 107 steps leading up to its front

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

from the fountain and plaza at street level. It is a two-story,

Classical Revival Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassic ...

style brick buildings with a three-stage

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. It was built after

Charles Joseph Harris Charles Joseph Harris (September 11, 1853 – February 14, 1944) was an industrialist who contributed heavily to the development of Jackson County, North Carolina, Jackson County and Western North Carolina from the late 19th century into the 20th ...

pushed the county to vote for the removal of the

from Webster (where it had been since 1851) to Sylva, and the measure passed and the seat was relocated. Harris then as part of the agreement built a courthouse with the sum of money not exceeding $30,000. The building was patterned after the Madison County Courthouse in

Marshall, North Carolina Marshall is a town in Madison County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 777 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 872 in 2010 United States census, 2010. It is the county seat of Madison County. History During ...

. The 1913

Courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

served as the county's

from 1914 until the present

Justice Center The Justice Center is a 1,100-seat multi-purpose arena in Asheville, North Carolina built in 1963. The arena was named in 1973 for Charlie "Choo-Choo" Justice, a native of Asheville and former NFL halfback. It is home to the University of Nort ...

was built in 1994 on Grindstaff Cove Road east of town near

US 74 U.S. Route 74 (US 74) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Primarily in North Carolina, it serves as an important highway from the mountains to t ...

. It had been previously

renovated Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...

in 1950 when the

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

third floor was painted white and four windows were added to the front and back of the third floor. It was renovated again in 1969, when the red bricks were painted white, a clock added to the dome, the

pine trees A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

along the steps that hid the building from the street and lined the steps were also removed. In 2007, the Courthouse site was selected for the location of the new Jackson County

Public Library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

. The old Jail from 1963 was

demolished Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apa ...

at this time, and the original jail from 1913 was demolished in 2009, when the new library started being constructed. The Jackson County Courthouse was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

The jails

The original jail was small, about the size of a house. It served as the main county jail until a big red brick structure was built between it and the courthouse in 1963. They were both two floors tall and connected by a one floor tall office wing on the 1963 building. The jails were abandoned in favor of a new facility around 2000. Both jails were recently demolished in preparation for the construction of the new Library on their sites.

New Jackson County Public Library

Construction started in 2009 on a 20,000 sq. ft. two-story

addition Addition (usually signified by the Plus and minus signs#Plus sign, plus symbol, +) is one of the four basic Operation (mathematics), operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication, and Division (mathematics), divis ...

to house the library, which is being built onto the back of the

historic History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

courthouse, and will incorporate elements of the old building into it, and will connect with the back of the courthouse via large glass roofed atrium. The new building will replace a small, sad, one story structure with a meager floorspace of 6,000SQ FT that was built in 1970 on Main Street. The Courthouse is also being restored to house the Jackson County

Genealogical Society A family history society or genealogical society is a society, often Charitable organization, charitable or not-for-profit, that allows member genealogists and family history, family historians to profit from shared knowledge. Large societies ofte ...

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

, and

Historical Society A historical society is non-profit organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and promoting the history of a particular place, group of people, or topic. They play a crucial role in promoting historical awareness and understan ...

. It will have an

Auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

in the former

courtroom A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years, courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual ...

and it will also become the showplace of the county, and has had new windows and doors installed as part of the restoration. The iconic dome and clocktower of the building was removed for the third time since its construction for renovation work (it was removed in 2010 and replaced in 2011, and it was previously removed in 1969 and 1994), and the entire complex was scheduled to open in May 2011, with a grand opening in June. The construction is mostly complete, but finishing work needs to be done on both the interior and exterior as of February 5, 2011.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Government buildings completed in 1913 Buildings and structures in Jackson County, North Carolina County courthouses in North Carolina Neoclassical architecture in North Carolina Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Jackson County, North Carolina 1913 establishments in North Carolina Brick buildings and structures in North Carolina

The building

The jails

New Jackson County Public Library

See also

References