Macon County Courthouse is a historic

county 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, ...

in downtown

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee ( ) is a city in Macon County, Alabama, Macon County, Alabama, United States. General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, laid out the city and founded it in 1833. It became the county seat in the same y ...

, county seat of

Macon County, Alabama Macon County is a County (United States), county located in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,532. Its county seat is Tuskegee, Alabama, Tuskegee. Its nam ...

. A brick courthouse was constructed in the middle of the 19th century, replacing wooden structures used earlier. The current courthouse, an example of

Romanesque Revival architecture Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

, was designed by J.W. Golucke and built in 1905 (completed in 1906). It includes

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

s. A monument to confederate soldiers is located nearby. The 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 ...

on November 17, 1978. The courthouse is at 101 East Northside Street. Golucke designed numerous courthouses in Georgia. Gargoyles adorn the courthouse's clocktower. In 1957 an amendment to the Alabama Constitution was passed to form a committee to study how to abolish the county. Gerrymanders and syphilis study cases were heard at the courthouse. It is the only courthouse in Alabama designed by Golucke and the only courthouse in Alabama with gargoyles. It has granite trim. The Tuskegee Confederate Monument in Tuskegee Square in front of the courthouse is controversial. Proposals to remove or relocate it have not succeeded and it has been vandalized repeatedly. It sits on land given by the county to the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

for a park and the monument. The site was for whites only. The monument is adorned with

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

s. Macon County is more than 80 percent African American. Alabama passed a law protecting Confederate monuments. In 2023 the statue was ordered removed.https://www.wsfa.com/2023/01/27/confederate-group-instructed-removed-tuskegee-statue-court-records-say/

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Macon County, Alabama County courthouses in Alabama Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Government buildings completed in 1906 Romanesque Revival architecture in Alabama 1906 establishments in Alabama

See also

References