The Rutherford County Courthouse in

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, is a

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 ...

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 US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...

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 Tenn ...

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

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

and Union troops. Confederate troops, under the command of Gen.

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was an List of slave traders of the United States, American slave trader, active in the lower Mississippi River valley, who served as a General officers in the Confederate States Army, Con ...

, 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 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 American Ci ...

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 that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohisto ...

along with the Ladies Memorial Association erected a monument to the Confederacy on the Courthouse lawn. 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 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

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 and the Cherokee-American Wars, a political leader in North Carolina, and an important figure in the early history of the Southwes ...

, 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 a Field army, field army of the Confederate States Army in the Western theater of the American Civil War, Western Theater of the American Civil War. Named for the Confederate States of America, Confederate state of Tenn ...

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