First Courthouse in Spartanburg

There was nothing ridiculous though about the pocket-edition first courthouse in the eyes of the early residents of Spartanburg County. It was indeed to them a thing of rare architectural beauty.

Until the first courthouse was erected in 1787, court met at the homes of different plantation owners in the county.

On December 18, 1786, at a meeting of court at the home of John Woods, it was ordered "That the Justices meet next day to agree on the plan of the public buildings and on the 28th of said January to let said buildings as commissioner, and that the clerk advertise the same as general as he can possibly. (There were no newspapers in those days.) and that all absent members of the court be notified to appear on the above mentioned days at this place."

The Justices - Baylis Earle, Richard Harrison, Samuel Lancaster and Obediah Trimmier - met on the specified date and agreed that the courthouse be built of hewn timbers, that it be 30 feet long by 20 feet wide, that it have a 12 foot pitch square roof with shingles of heart pine, a plain door on each side, 6 12-light windows, with glass 6 x 10 inches, 2 in the end of the court room, one on each side and two in the jury room. The eaves of the building were to be boxed and corniced and the whole done "in a workmanlike manner."

Six feet was to be taken off the length of the court room and partitioned off for jury rooms. Steps were to lead to the elevated jury rooms.

The justice's bench was to be elevated four feet above the floor. Stairways were to lead from each end to the circular-shaped elevation containing the judge's bench, jury bench, boxes for the use of the sheriff, a clerk's table and an attorney's bar.

The sheriff was ordered to let the contract for the courthouse and the other public buildings to pillory, whipping posts and stocks.

Twenty-five pounds was to be paid at the next term of court in June and the balance to be paid in four equal payments every four months.

On the first day of February, 1787, the contract was let to Richard Harrison for 204 pounds. (English specie was the only money in the state at that time. Being no "United States of America" and as yet no President, there was of course no Federal Currency yet. It was not until April of that year that George Washington became President and the Constitution of the United States adopted).

Thomas Williamson donated two acres of land to the county for the erection of the public buildings. The story is told of how the committee appointed to select a proper site on this land for the courthouse debated and argued for a whole day as to the most suitable place. Unable to come to an agreement, they selected a camp site near a gushing spring in a hollow back of the Spartan Hotel, intending to continue their search next day.

Bolstering their weary bodies with a jug of whiskey, they prepared to "bed down" for the night. Their differences forgotten after having partaken rather freely of the contents of the jug, they decided it was foolish to look further for a suitable place and decided that the courthouse should be located in that exact spot.

You can take it or leave it but whether the tradition is true or not, it's a fact that the courthouse was located right there near the spring, almost exactly where the Morgan Monument now stands. It was a wise decision, too for comfort of beast as well as man had to be considered in those days. The old spring became quite a landmark. Later a roof was built over it and a bell placed on top to ring curfew at nine o'clock. The spring has long since dried up and buildings erected over the site.

Tradition also has it that Boiling Springs was seriously considered as a courthouse site as it was an important crossroads, trading point and cattle-raising country in the early days. With a fine spring as an added asset, it no doubt would have made a fine location for a county site.

After serving the people of Spartanburg for 40 years, the little log-hewn courthouse was literally bursting at the seam and totally inadequate for the fast growing population. In 1825, the General Assembly authorized a new one, which was completed in 1827.

The Spartanburg Herald-Journal - July 3, 1976

First Court House

A contract for the first public buildings for the new Spartanburgh District was let February 1, 1787. It provided for a court house, gaol, pillory, whipping post and stocks to be built. Richard Harrison, Esquire, was the contractor at a bid of 204 English pounds. This sketch of the original Court House indicates its appearance. It was built of hewn timbers, dimensions were twenty by thirty feet with a square roof having a 12-foot pitch. Apparently the only ornimentation for the building was a square crown of lathe-turned wooden pins at the roof's peak, dimly discerned in the sketch. It was completed in 1789. The jail was similar in construction but contained two stories. They stood among the trees of the public ground (near Morgan Square area).