Alamance County Courthouse,

About this property

The Alamance County Courthouse in Graham, North Carolina, was built in 1923. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Alamance County has had several courthouses throughout its history. The county's founding in 1849 was held at the Providence Meeting House in what would eventually become the Town of Graham. The Orange County Courts had held court here to serve the needs of the western half of the county prior to the founding of Alamance County in 1849. The first Court Session was held in June 1849. On July 17, 1849, the Alamance County Commissioners voted to spend $8,000 to construct a courthouse in a 75-acre (300,000 m2) area located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the Providence Church. The County Commissioners expected to pay for the courthouse through the sale of land in the new county seat of Graham. They also levied an ad valorem tax on property of 35.25 cents per $100 valuation and a poll tax of 73.75 cents. The courthouse was constructed with brick for the sum of $6,400 and was opened in 1852. In 1888, 2 new wings were added to the courthouse and the exterior of the courthouse was stuccoed. The courthouse remained open until 1923, when the County Commissioners voted for a new courthouse to replace the over 70-year-old building. In 1914, a memorial to Confederate soldiers was added to the courthouse grounds. The original courthouse was demolished in November 1923. One of the only remaining pieces of the old courthouse is the 400 lb (180 kg) bell from the cupola, which currently resides at Sesquicentennial Park in Graham. The park was established in 1994 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alamance County and resides in the northwest corner of the city's Courthouse Square. The courthouse bell is the centerpiece of the park, which includes planters with vegetation, benches, and a metal framework over a red brick courtyard. The current Alamance County Courthouse that sits on the National Register of Historic Places, began construction in 1923 and was opened to the public on November 23, 1924, at a cost of $253,925.82. The courthouse was built in the Classical Revival style and features terracotta stonework, dental tooth molding, and metal-masonry floors. The courthouse originally housed the court system, county government offices, the sheriff's office, state government offices, agricultural offices, health department offices, and federal offices. The original sheriff's office is located in the southwestern 1st floor corner of the building, which features metal-framed shatter-resistant windows. The courthouse sits in the middle of Courthouse Square in Graham and is surrounded by parking spaces for parallel parking. The north and south entrances to the courthouse have stairs that reach to the first floor of the courthouse, each entrance featuring six Corinthian-style columns rising from the steps external steps to the tops of the courtroom windows, with each column featuring bird control spikes. The north entrance is the only public entrance and has a handicapped-accessible ramp installed during the 2009-11 renovation. The north entrance also features the 1914 Confederate memorial. The east and west entrances of the courthouse feature faux columns, street lanterns, and steps that lead to the first floor of the courthouse for courthouse employees. The east entrance also features a handicapped-accessible entrance for access to the courthouse's elevator. The base of the courthouse is granite, while the structure of the courthouse is terracotta.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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