Local attorney Matt Hube, who once rode his motorcycles to the courthouses of all 159 counties in Georgia, focused his recent presentation to the Bulloch County Historical Society on the history of the Bulloch County Courthouse and its three antecedents.

Hube, a graduate of Georgia Southern University and of Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, has practiced law in Statesboro since 2000. Currently the Bulloch County Historical Society’s treasurer, he provided the program for the society’s last monthly meeting of 2022, Oct. 24 in the Pittman Park United Methodist Church social hall.

“We are going to talk about the courthouse today, but we’re also to hear about agriculture in the courtroom, drunkards, fights, arsonists, and an opera house,” Hube said.

The existing, historic courthouse, built in 1894, reopened after renovations in 2000 – just as Hube was beginning his legal career – so he feels he “grew up in this courthouse,” he said.

But it’s not the original. Bulloch County was founded in 1796 and began holding court the next year. So in its 226-year history, the county has had four different courthouses, he noted.

“In May of 1797, Bulloch County Superior Court was held for the first time in the residence of Stephen Mills,” Hube said. “Court was subsequently held in other homes as well as under the old walnut tree. So even though there wasn’t officially a Statesboro yet, court was being held.”

“Statesborough,” as it was originally spelled, was founded as the county seat by Gov. John Milledge in December 1803. Soon afterward, the Bulloch County surveyor, Josiah Everett, drew a layout dividing the town into four equal parts separated by four streets, which, Hube quipped, were “creatively named East Main, West Main, North Main and South Main.”

Courthouse #1

In March 1804, a man named William Wise purchased Lot 15 for $33, and the money was used to construct “a crude log cabin” as the first courthouse. Much of this information can be found in “The True Story of the Bulloch County Courthouse,” a booklet by the late Dr. Charles Parrish Blitch. Published by the Historical Society in 2004, it is now available through Digital Commons@Georgia Southern.

After Wise purchased three more lots on Dec. 1, 1806, the county commissioners used the $38.50 windfall to fund repairs to the courthouse and build a log jail on the northwest corner of Courthouse Square. That month, a grand jury recommended the repairs, stating that “this county has sustained considerable damages by the keeper of the courthouse by making use of the same as a bale room, threshing floor, etc.”

With its benches and table destroyed, the building was ‘not fit for the reception of the courts,’” Hube quoted. So, that was the result of “agriculture in the courtroom.”

In the 1800s, Superior Court was held twice a year, while an Inferior Court met the first Monday of each month, usually.

Court days drew activity “like a carnival downtown,” with people camped out on the grounds, vendors, drunkenness, fights and gambling, Hube noted.

Sherman burns #2

With the first courthouse falling into further dilapidation, the second was built to replace it in 1825.

A former resident of Statesboro described that new courthouse as “a magnificent structure” measuring 23 by 50 feet but two stories tall, unpainted, with one door, a small portico and windows without blinds or sashes.

“If this was a ‘magnificent structure,’ it would make you wonder what the rest of the town looked like,” Hube said.

But that 1825 courthouse survived for almost 40 years, until it was destroyed by U.S. Army Major Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops on their “March to the Sea,” against Confederate forces.

Blitch in his booklet cites the minutes of the Inferior Court from Dec. 5, 1864: “This being the day appointed by law for holding the Court of the Ordinary of said county. But the Yankees were here in Statesboro and burned the courthouse and there was no court held.”

For reference, the ordinary was a county official with duties roughly equivalent to those later held by the probate judge. In 1864, the ordinary was a man named David Beasley.

“Thankfully, as Sherman approached, word spread that he had a penchant for lighting things on fire, and so the ordinary removed all of the county records and concealed them under his home,” Hube said. “So they actually survived the burning of the courthouse.”

Courthouse #3

After that famous case of arson, Inferior Court was held at the ordinary’s home in January 1865, but Superior Court was not held again until 1866, according to Blitch, who wrote that the whereabouts of its sessions were unknown.

Completed in 1869, the third courthouse consisted of a two-story, wood-frame building with a small brick office on the back for the ordinary, the sheriff and the clerk of court.

Currently #4

A movement to build a new courthouse got underway in the early 1890s. An ad appeared in The Statesboro Star newspaper soliciting bids, and when they were opened on June 7, 1894, the winning bid, from C.F. McKenzie Construction of Augusta, was $17,000. The county budgeted an additional $3,000 for furnishings.

“So $20,000 for the courthouse,” Hube said. “Now compare that to this. Recently, our county commission approved money for the new audiovisual system for the courthouse: $200,000.”

Meanwhile, the old third courthouse, minus its brick office annex, was sold at auction for $120 to W.H.  Blitch, who had it moved to a lot on North Walnut Street, where it became a theater, called the Statesboro Opera House, for plays, musicals, lectures and vaudeville acts, but no actual operas. No photos of this building are known to exist.

The fourth and current courthouse was designed by Bruce & Morgan, an architectural firm that designed at least eight Georgia counties’ courthouses.  Bulloch officials had visited several counties for design ideas, including Talbot County in west-central Georgia. At least in its original appearance, Talbot’s Bruce & Morgan-designed courthouse was almost identical to Bulloch’s.

Hube also covered the 1897 installation of the clock – not included in the original contract – and renovations made to the courthouse during the 20th century.

Saved & repainted

In 1964-1966, he noted, Bulloch County officials proposed to replace the courthouse with a contemporary building. But after a citizens group mounted a “Save the Courthouse” campaign, a large majority of voters on Feb. 28, 1966 rejected the $700,000 bond issue required to fund the replacement.

For a quarter century beginning in the 1970s, the courthouse was painted white, as many local people remember. It wasn’t restored to its original red-brick appearance until the 2000 renovation.

Hube, a motorcycling enthusiast, completed his series of rides to the 159 courthouses circa 2012. Asked why he did it, he said, “It was a reason to ride my motorcycles.”

But he found out it wasn’t really necessary to get an idea of what most of those landmark buildings look like.

“If you’ve seen about 10 courthouses in the state of Georgia, you’ve pretty well seen them all,” Hube said.